Kim Howells angers live music campaigners by insulting folk music

Tourism minister Kim Howells has angered protestors campaigning for more live music in pubs by insulting folk music.

During a House of Commons debate last week, he joked that listening to Somerset folk singers was his idea of "hell" when pressed about the restrictions on the numbers of musicians allowed to play in pubs.

Hamish Birchall, who heads CaLM (the Campaign for Live Music), was dismayed by the minister's reaction.

"We have been waiting long enough for change and this is just an insult. They're next to useless," he said.

"If that's a joke, it's a very bad joke, particularly coming from a culture minister," he added.

"This is a huge setback. We do not need legislation, what we need is local authorities to change their procedure."

He said that CaLM and the Musicians Union would be embarking on a much higher profile campaign and would be putting more pressure on the Government to change the system in the new year.

But a spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said the minister was joking. "On a serious point about PELs, we want to reform the whole system rather than get bogged down in extending the number of performers who can play at once.

"We want complete reform and want to abolish the need for pubs to have a music and dance licence as part of the Time for Reform White Paper."