It’s not small beer, we need to support our pubs

By Lucy Powell

The strength of public feeling in support of post offices has showed how much care the government needs to take to ensure policies support rather than undermine people’s strong sense of attachment to their local community. Yet with almost six pubs closing every day across the country, including here in south Manchester, the decline of local community pubs promises to be as important a political issue as the future of post offices.

A new poll that came out on Monday shows just how worried people are about the decline of communities, and how strongly they identify the Great British Pub as a vital part of community life. According to the poll carried out by ComRes, 83% of people say community spirit and values are under threat, and 63% of people believe that the local pub is an important element of local communities.

Pressure is building for action to protect pubs from what is becoming a catastrophic decline. More than 155 MPs, including 73 of Labour MPs, have signed a parliamentary motion (Early Day Motion 10) to save the Great British pub, and a campaign run by the beer and pub industry and CAMRA, the campaign for real ale, already has tens of thousands of supporters.

On Wednesday this week, five government ministers will be appearing before MPs to hear of deep concerns about the future of what is not only a symbol and a part of our national life, but also a major employer which directly accounts for more than 650,000 jobs. We can’t afford to lose traditional brewers as beer sales decline to levels not seen for decades.

There are many reasons for that decline. But one major reason is the availability of cheap alcohol in supermarkets, sold at deep discounts by giant chains whose prices can’t be matched by pubs struggling to make ends meet. So while alongside the decline of the local – the traditional setting for responsible social drinking – we see youngsters getting drunk on booze that is too cheaply on sale in the High Street.

The government needs to deal with this problem, while doing something to relieve the pressure on the beer and pub trade. As a first step it should re-think its plans to impose further across the board tax increases on beer in next month’s budget – a policy the Chancellor first announced in last year’s budget. Monday’s poll, commissioned by the British Beer and Pub Association, also shows that 70% of the public want this policy changed.

In parallel, steps could be taken to ensure that supermarkets charge a fair and resonable price for alcohol, instead of the give-away, loss-leading prices we often see. I’m not sure that the proposals unveiled by the Scottish Executive yesterday have the balance right but at least they get the debate going.

There would be no disgrace in the Chancellor changing his mind on this issue. The entire economic picture has changed beyond recognition in the last 12 months and, with once high-flying industries now seeking state subsidies to survive, the call for tax increases on the struggling beer and pub industry to be shelved seems positively modest.
With the return of Keynesian economics in the last few months, I hope Alistair Darling might draw some inspiration from one the great economist’s most famous lines – ‘When the facts change, I change my mind.’ Scrapping the increases in beer tax would be a truly popular piece of Keynesianism.