Industry row erupts over BBPA's plans

The Independent Pub Confederation (IPC) claims the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has "forfeited the right" to be the voice of licensees for failing to debate its plans for the industry.

The BBPA asked for a separate session with Beer Group MPs during a meeting in Parliament yesterday, according to Beer Group secretary Robert Humphreys.

And the IPC has hit out at the trade body over its request.

Kate Nicholls, the IPC's secretary, said: "The BBPA's failure to debate the issue openly with the IPC in front of MPs means that they have forfeited the right to be considered the voice of the publican.

"We stand ready to debate and work with any interested party - any time, any place, anywhere."

She called on the BBPA to be clear about its proposed changes to its industry code for pubcos, or risk government intervention on the matter.

But it is understood the BBPA is waiting to get an agreement on its revised code with the BII and FLVA before it publishes the final version.

However campaign group Fair Pint has threatened to publish the proposed code in the next 24 hours, if it does not reveal the details.

Fair Pint's Steve Corbett said: "The extraordinary behaviour of the BBPA shows that they are an organisation which simply isn't interested in delivering meaningful change in response to the criticisms of the Business and Enterprise Select Committee report.

"An organisation which claims to be interested in delivering transparency to the industry was unwilling to present in front of tenants' representatives, who were forced to leave the room."

Humphreys confirmed the BBPA had requested a separate session at yesterday's "lively" meeting and the order of appearances was dictated by speakers' diaries.

The group's chairman John Grogan had decided to make it a private meeting, Humphreys added, to allow people to "speak freely" without intrusion from the press.

Earlier Mark Hastings, director of communications at the BBPA, refuted the suggestion his organisation was not willing to participate in any debate concerning the industry's future and said it was "actively and openly engaging" with the process.

"We will be presenting the code, which proposes significant changes to the way the tied model will operate, to the BISC hearing on December 8, where it can be fully scrutinised by the committee's MPs," he said.