UKIP calls for action to save pubs

UKIP chairman Paul Nuttall has called for the Government to act on taxation, cheap supermarket alcohol and the smoking ban to help save pubs....

UKIP chairman Paul Nuttall has called for the Government to act on taxation, cheap supermarket alcohol and the smoking ban to help save pubs.

Nuttall, who is an MEP for the North West, said that pubs were being "driven into oblivion" by restrictive rules and taxation.

Nuttall's UK Independence Party launched its own Save the Pub manifesto earlier this year calling for duty to be reigned in and for pubs to be allowed to set their own smoking policy. It also called for an investigation into the beer tie.

The party also warned that the EU was considering extending the smoking ban to include any partially enclosed space.

"What is happening is a tragedy for the British way of life and it has cost 24,000 jobs over the last year alone," said Nuttall.

"The social implications are enormous and a structured way of life, with its inherent checks and balances, is being eroded, probably for ever. Nowadays it is commonplace for young people to get drunk on cheap alcohol at home and then go out and behave disgracefully.

"It is vital the government takes urgent action to help the pub trade, so helping local communities.

"Licensees should have the freedom to choose whether to allow smoking on their premises and beer taxes should be cut. If it was not bad enough already the EU now wants to ban smoking in beer gardens.

"And there are grave concerns about the attitude and behaviour of some pub companies whose actions are aggravating the situation."