Senior Labour minister hails pubs as ‘a great part of British life’ and calls time on ‘plan to cut opening hours’

A SENIOR Labour curate hailed pubs arsenic “a large portion of British life” arsenic helium ruled retired a program to alteration their opening hours.

Cabinet Office curate Pat McFadden besides vowed connected Tuesday to array an exigency solution astatine his party’s league to halt an alleged alteration to venue licensing times, “if that’s connected the agenda”.

On Monday, nationalist health and prevention curate Andrew Gwynne suggested “tightening up connected immoderate of the hours of operation”, according to The Telegraph, but the Department of Health and Social Care said it was “categorically untrue” to suggest it was considering changes to licensing policy.

“We’ve got a time near of the league and if that’s connected the agenda, I’m going to array an exigency solution myself successful bid to marque definite it doesn’t happen,” Mr McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I deliberation we’ve been wide astir that overnight, the pub’s a large portion of the British contented and we’ve got nary plans to alteration the opening hours successful that way.”

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster aboriginal told LBC: “I don’t deliberation there’s immoderate program to unopen the pubs early. The pub is simply a large portion of British life.

“I, earlier we started the interview, I deliberation I told you I don’t person a portion during conference, but that is partially truthful I tin look guardant to having a nice 1 erstwhile the league is over, and I anticipation the pub volition beryllium unfastened erstwhile I spell in.”

Speaking astatine the Labour Party league successful Liverpool, Mr Gwynne is reported to person said determination “are discussions that we person got to person – adjacent if it’s conscionable astir tightening up connected immoderate of the hours of operation, peculiarly wherever determination are concerns that radical are drinking excessively much”.

But a spokesperson for his section said: “It is categorically untrue that the Government is considering changing intoxicant licensing hours.”

Emma McClarkin, the BBPA (British Beer and Pub Association) main executive, welcomed Mr McFadden’s determination to contradict the rumours.

She said: “It is simply a immense alleviation that the thought of restricting pub hours has been quashed, arsenic it suggested a cardinal misunderstanding astir however radical drink.

“As the Chancellor said, this fund volition beryllium astir economical growth, truthful it’s important to debar baffling proposals that would not lone ineffectively tackle an issue, but diminish the system and enactment jobs astatine risk.

“The large British pub is astatine the bosom of communities up and down the state who enactment their religion successful Labour for the archetypal clip successful a generation.

We impulse the enactment not to crook its backmost connected them present they are successful Government and to honour those promises for the future endurance of this captious industry.”