During the pub debate in the House of Commons Save the Pub Group chair and MP Greg Mulholland claimed the evidence is “damning” and called on the Government to halt the entire proposal for self-regulation of the pub trade.
Mulholland said: “I am afraid that the explanation appears to be clear from the Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Save the Pub Group: the so-called Government response is basically the BBPA’s own report, with some passages and commitments taken word for word—indeed, there is even a typo in the BBPA report presented to ministers that was directly cut and pasted into the Government’s response.
“Let us be clear that the Government’s proposals for reform are not industry proposals. They are not supported by the Independent Pub Confederation, the GMV, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Forum of Private Business, the ALMR, CAMRA, Fair Pint, Justice for Licensees, Licensees Unite or the All-Party Save the Pub Group.
"Why on earth did the Minister (Ed Davey) suggest throughout the Government response that it is an industry proposal? It is not even the Government’s response, but the response of the pubcos trying to avoid the self-regulation that he agreed was necessary.”
However, a BIS spokesman said: "The Government did of course discuss the general contents of the response with various parties in the industry as an essential part of securing an industry solution but did not collude with the BBPA.
"Where we secured a commitment from the BBPA, of course we copied that text exactly. We could not make up what had been agreed. The rest of the response is fully the Government's."
As the information released under FOI shows (published on our website), the Government held extensive discussions with all sides of the industry, including the BBPA, Independent Family Brewers, CAMRA and ALMR– a member of the IPC."