Campaigners share the Bitter Pill with Cross Party MPs
The Forum of Private Business and The Brighton and Hove Licensees Association have told MPs that the Pubs Code has in fact contributed to the closure of Pubs as the Pub Code Adjudicator has done nothing to curb the excesses of the Pub Owning Businesses
Dave Mountford, a Campaigner spoke for 15 Minutes at a meeting attended by the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Pubs, Labour MP Toby Perkins, detailing how the Government’s BIES Department did almost everything wrong during the drafting of the Code from 2015 to July 2016 when it became law.
He said that the inability of Paul Newby, the Pub Code Adjudicator, to be ready on day one meant that the POBs already had a head start in making sure that the subverting of the legislation was already well under way as Rent Assessment proposals were routinely issued with missing key information and tied tenants were put off attempting to use the legislation by “any means”.
The refusal to renew leases often on the most spurious of reasons was highlighted by many examples by tenants who had taken time off from their day jobs at this busy period to attend the meeting in support of The Forum.
Dave Mountford demonstrated that both the legislation and the Enterprise Bill 2016 require the Pubs Code Adjudicator to notify the Secretary of State of attempts to circumvent the Code by the use of unfair business practices. It was reported that so far Mr Newby had this far not raised any such issues.
MPs from both Labour and Conservative listened attentively as Dave Mountford explained how warnings before the Code went live were ignored and since the Code has been implemented, despite hard evidence provided to BIES officials and the PCA directly, insufficient action has been taken to stop unfair business practices from occurring.
Licensees from both Zac Goldsmith’s constituency and Bob Seeley’s on the Isle of Wight gave examples as to the appalling treatment by their POB, including the fraudulent creation of documents and the forging of signatures, with no recourse open to them from the PCA.
Reminding the All Party Group that the legislation was “secondary” and therefore easily fixed, the campaigners provided the Group with a ten point plan that they believe can resolve many if not all the most common issues that have so far not been addressed.
They also asked that the Group to write to the Secretary of State asking for an urgent and transparent review of the Code.