ALMR welcomes mandatory code's possible delay

The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) has welcomed the recommendation by Trade Secretary Lord Mandelson to delay introduction of the mandatory code.

Speaking as news of the decision emerged, ALMR chief executive Nick Bish said: "We welcome the news that the government is prepared to listen to the arguments being put forward by the trade and that Lord Mandelson in particular has recognised the commercial imperative.

"This is clearly as much a political as a business decision - for the benefit of the Labour Party rather than the pub trade."

However Bish warned that Mandelson's announcement amounted to nothing more than a recommendation for delay - not a scrapping of the code itself.

"It will mean nothing unless it is translated into actual practical action," Bish argued.

The Policing and Crime Bill was still going through Parliament and, if adopted as drafted, would still give ministers the power to introduce a code in the future, he believed.

Unless the clause setting out the code is deleted from the Bill, which is to be debated in the House of Lords on October 13, today's announcement "will prove to be a pyrrhic victory", Bish said.

"If the code is not right for now, it is not right for later," he added.

And Paul Smith, executive director of late-night operator trade group Noctis, suggested the Home Office and Department of Health were "still keen to be seen to be doing something".

"The Home Office has not backed away from the code," he said. "The trade cannot be complacent and the code is not dead yet."

But he said the Tories were "not fans of the code", adding: "It's incredibly useful what Mandelson has said and gives us massive amounts of hope."