12/08/05 - Licensing Laws In Disarray

LICENSING LAWS IN DISARRAY

David Blunkett has indicated that the Government may review the new licensing laws if they lead to more violence and binge drinking (The Sun, p.2). The Government has already announced a consultation on Temporary Event Notices required for occasional events as well as a review of licensing fees.

Conservatives

The Governments new licensing laws are in disarray. Village halls, sports clubs and community centres have been hit by exorbitant new licensing fees. Local pubs have been deluged with volumes of complex paperwork. The only people who stand to benefit are the high volume, vertical drinking establishments who will be able to ply more alcohol into the early hours.

It is time for the Government to call a halt to the implementation of the new laws before they come into full effect in November. The legislation needs a complete overhaul to cut red tape on the voluntary sector, to stop the widely predicted upsurge in irresponsible binge drinking (as judges and police have warned only this week) and to give local councils far more discretion to take into account the concerns of their local communities.

Labour

1. Violent crime is soaring - up by 7 per cent in the last year alone, fuelled by alcohol misuse in high streets across Britain. Binge drinkers accounted for 55 per cent of all adult offences in the last twelve months (Home Office, Findings from the 2003 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey: alcohol-related crime and disorder, 30 June 2005), yet Mr Blairs new laws will allow an upsurge in late-night drinking from November.
2. The Council of Her Majestys Circuit Judges has warned, those who routinely see the consequences of drink-fuelled violence in offences of rape, grievous bodily harm and worse on a daily basis, are in no doubt that an escalation of offences of this nature will inevitably be caused by the relaxation of liquor licensing which the Government has now authorised. We regard it as simply wishful thinking to suppose that the introduction of the Licensing Act will bring about the cultural change which Government envisages (Submission to Home Office consultation paper, Drinking Responsibly, June 2005).
3. The Federation of Small Business has accused the Government of presiding over the implementation of a new system that has descended into chaos (Financial Times, 1 August 2005).
4. Under the Licensing Act 2003, village halls, sports clubs and community centres are being forced to apply for the same expensive and complex licences as pubs and nightclubs. The system of occasional licences (Temporary Event Notices), needed for such events as cheese
5. and wine parties, is capped at just twelve a year for the premises in which they are held, irrespective of who organises them.

Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats flagship licensing policy is to lower the drinking age from 18 to 16. As their official licensing spokesman, Don Foster MP, has said, we have a belief that the age of 16 should be consistently used for all issues16-year-olds should be able to buy alcohol (Hansard, 25 January 2005, Cols. 184-5).

Cllr Justin Tomlinson, North Swindon Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman, "This meddling Labour Government is making a real mess of licensing laws. Their plans are hitting the wrong people, when every effort should have been made to tackle the rising levels of violent crime. It is only the criminal minority who will be toasting the Labour MPs when these new laws come into effect."