John Healey MP: the pub saviour?

Trade chiefs speak highly of the man appointed as the first pubs minister, but what impact can John Healey really have? Ewan Turney and John Harrington report.

Has the trade got a knight in shining armour? John Healey was an-nounced as the UK's first pubs minister this week and is to unveil a "package of measures" to help the sector within weeks, as the head of a task force of five ministers.

Healey's spokesman says this could include revisions to planning policy "that allow pubs to offer extra services and support for community ownership". Other items on the agenda are believed to include tax breaks, tenants' right to buy threatened pubs, and reducing unnecessary regulation.

It is understood that the idea of appointing such a minister has been around for a year as the Government sought to provide some cross-departmental cohesion on policies affecting pubs.

Healey, minister for housing and MP for Wentworth in South Yorkshire, said: "While we can't stop every pub from closing, it's right we do everything possible to back them.

"But they need help now, so I am determined to have a deal on the table with a package of practical help in the next few weeks."

It sounds promising, but who is John Healey and will his appointment really make any difference?

His supporters in the industry — and there's no shortage of them — point to the fact that it was him who asked the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG) to consider holding its inquiry into problems faced by community pubs back in 2004. He was Treasury minister at the time.

Welcome noises​

Healey also made welcome noises around small-business rate relief and greater protection for threatened community assets such as pubs when he was among the five ministers to speak at the APPBG's pub crisis summit in Parliament last March.

"I can't think of a more appropriate person to take on the role," says APPBG secretary Robert Humphreys. "He spent many years at the Treasury so he really understands the impact of duty on pubs and he also has good knowledge on subjects such as rate relief and planning.

"I think he is the ideal candidate, but he hasn't got too much time before the election."

The British Beer & Pub Association hailed the decision as "great news" and a "clear sign" that its campaigns, Axe the Tax and I'm Backing the Pub, had an impact.

"The agenda set for John Healey echoes our own policy priorities," says director of communications Mark Hastings. "I think the Government recognises it needs a more coherent strategic approach towards pubs because there are so many different departments producing policies that can affect pubs.

"Pubs now have a strategic place in Government and we could not have asked for a better minister than John Healey."

Pub is the Hub director John Longden, who spoke at the meeting last March, says Healey "struck me as being straight and understanding, rather than being emotionally and politically motivated".

Electioneering​

Others are more cautious, seeing it as a way to boost support for Labour as the general election approaches.

"It is good news, but it would have been much more positive had it happened a number of years ago," says Greg Mulholland, Liberal Democrat MP and chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group.

"It is very late in the day, but I know John and he does support the pub.

"I hope that in its few remaining months, the Government focuses on the issues as it can still bring forward change to the industry."

Mulholland says he had written to Healey about changing the planning law around pubs to protect them from being demolished.

"I have also made him aware of the structural issues with some of the bigger pubcos and the way they operate the tie. I do think it is a positive move, but it is a shame it did not happen sooner."

Healey has publicly kept his

cards close to his chest on the beer tie debate. Unlike fellow ministers Gerry Sutcliffe (licensing) and Angela Eagle (Treasury), he didn't discuss the issue at the APPBG's crisis summit.

'We don't need a new initiative'​

Despite this, anti-beer tie campaigners Fair Pint also welcomed the appointment. "This is encouraging news for Fair Pint's fight for fairness for tied tenants," says spokesman Steve Corbett.

"This shows that the Prime Minister understands how important the issue of pub closures will be in the next general election, and that he wants to see action taken to stem the loss of local pubs."

However, Noctis chairman Jon Collins questioned whether having a specific minister for pubs would bring benefits.

"We don't need a new initiative, a new focal point for pubs within Government. We've already got one of those. Would it not have been simpler to have the Department for Culture Media & Sport, nominally the champions [of pubs], to step up for us?"

He adds: "It is wholly positive if the Government says, 'we want to embrace and talk up the positive role pubs play in community'.

"But how is that going to sit with decisions on later hours, duty, and all the other aspects around health and crime, where too often it feels like the on-trade is the target? Is the new minister going to have sufficient power to do what we've been calling for, for so long: to stem the tide of new regulation?

"It's quite a challenge to be going up against the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Treasury. Good luck!"