Bath MP Wera Hobhouse comments on the Licensing Hours Extensions Bill in Parliament

Watch Bath MP Wera Hobhouse comments on the Licensing Hours Extensions Bill in Parliament - Tindle News on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00 I am just adding a very few notes to add the support of myself and the Liberal Democrats

00:11 for this Bill. In Bath we love our pubs as much as everybody else in our constituencies.

00:17 I am sure we all have heard from the hospitality sector in our constituencies how tough the

00:24 last few years have been for them. In Bath we are lucky to have a thriving hospitality

00:30 sector, but businesses are still facing many challenges. A close one of this Bill is integral

00:35 to avoiding a repeat of some pubs missing out on being able to open early when, for

00:39 example, the Lionesses reached the World Cup final last summer. At Bath Rugby we have the

00:47 Bath City Football Club, of which I am a fan and our women's team is doing very well too,

00:51 so it is always an opportunity to praise them and repeat our admiration of what our women's

00:59 teams all achieve. The change the clauses provide from the affirmative procedure to

01:04 the negative is important, particularly as lots of these sporting events often happen

01:09 in the summer when Parliament is not sitting, as we have already heard. A change in the

01:14 licensing procedure would have meant many pubs in Bath would have opened earlier during

01:18 the women's World Cup final, allowing fans to take in the atmosphere before the game

01:24 and take much more profits. However, what this clause fixes is a small part of an already

01:30 inadequate statutory framework. It is important to mention the basic flaws of which have,

01:37 if anything, been compounded by subsequent piecemeal amendments. In 2022, the Lords Liaison

01:43 Committee published its post-legislative scrutiny follow-up report. It found that flaws in the

01:48 licensing system remain unresolved and that significant reform was required. This clause

01:55 goes some way to improving the law as it stands. However, we also need to take another look

02:05 at the licensing system and consider whether it is fit for purpose in its current state.

02:10 Thank you.

02:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]