The fact that Preston has lost the 7th highest amount of pubs in the country and the Ribble Valley has lost 10, hammers this point home in my constituency

Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley and Vice Chair of the All Party Beer Group has today expressed his delight that the plight of pubs across the country is finally being recognised by the Government. The All Party Group invited Ministers from the Department of Health, the Home Office, the Treasury, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for Communities and Local Government to attend a joint meeting to consider the challenge now and to address it. The Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP, Alan Campbell MP, Angela Eagle MP, Gerry Sutcliffe MP and The Rt Hon John Healey MP will all be attending the “Pub Summit” today in Westminster.

Mr Evans said,

“The figures that have been released today just go to show that something must be done to save the Great British institution that is the pub. The fact that Preston has lost the 7th highest amount of pubs in the country and the Ribble Valley has lost 10 hammers this point home in my constituency. I am sure that all MPs will be concerned when they see the figures for their area.

“To that end, I am delighted that five Government Ministers will be sat around the table at today’s Pub Summit. The All Party Beer Group then plans to invite the relevant Shadow Ministers to a similar meeting that I will Chair as Vice-Chair of the Group and we hope to achieve a real consensus on the issue. I am also pleased that the Conservative Party has announced its “Save the Great British Pub Campaign” and I look forward to helping them in any way that I can.

“To help pubs in the UK we must cut red tape and needless bureaucracy and I stand by the recommendations of the Community Pub Inquiry that I Co-Chaired.

“The Government must consider the significant differential between on and off prices in the UK and should introduce a reduced rate of duty on sales of draught beer. The diversification of pubs needs to be made simpler as does licensing in general and I would also like to see Sky supporting community pubs by recognising that those pubs with low profitability but high rateable values struggle to afford Sky Sports packages and I would encourage them to vary their prices accordingly.

“I sincerely hope that today’s summit is a wake up call to the Government and prompts them to act before it is too late.”