Cabinet minister Sadiq Khan and ex-sports minister Kate Hoey have called on hosts to involve their customers in the campaign for a fairer deal for tenants.
Khan said the battle should be billed as consumers (allied to licensees) versus producers. "Once consumers recognise how much of the cost of a pint they're buying goes into your pocket, versus how much goes into the pubco pocket, they will be shocked," he said.
He also promised to raise the matter with Peter Mandelson at cabinet.
At a meeting held yesterday at Fair Pint founder Simon Clarke's pub, the Eagle Ale House in Battersea, three Labour MPs — including Khan, Hoey and Battersea MP Martin Linton — met to discuss the beer tie with their constituents.
As part of the presentation Clarke said out of a £2.90 pint of bitter, he earned just 8%, while pubcos took 57%.
Ex-Sports minister Kate Hoey, called on hosts to encourage their customers to "influence, cajole and badger their MPs" on the issue as the general election looms.
Back in June, Hoey was introduced to the pubco debate by her constituent Steve Slatter, Enterprise host at Coach & Horses in Clapham
She commended Fair Pint's efforts, saying: "You're clearly annoying [people] and having an effect".
Meanwhile, Linton said he felt Government was reluctant to abolish the tie because of the "unintended consequences" of 1989's Beer Orders. At that time, brewers were prevented from owning more than 2,000 pubs — this led to the creation of property-owning pub companies.
Linton advised caution: "The select committee doesn't want to abolish the tie only to feed some new shark that will appear in the sea and gobble up the pubs that have got away from the pubcos. "
Khan also hinted that Government was delaying its response to the Business & Enterprise Committee's report into pubcos, hoping that "the Campaign for Real Ale's super-complaint and the negotiations will bear fruit".