The Liberal Democrat MP and Save the Pub Group chairman said he would accept “no compromise” on including a mandatory market rent only (MRO) option. However, he would not be drawn on whether he would vote against Vince Cable’s Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, which will be introduced to Parliament today.
The Fair Deal for Your Local coordinator told the PMA he was relieved the Government had acted but said the draft code included in the bill was “seriously flawed”.
He said: “If the Government is not careful it will get itself into a situation of setting up an adjudicator without clear definitions of what that adjudicator can do.
“At the moment the Government is failing in its pledge to ensure tied tenants are no worse off than those free of tie. There is only one way to do that and that is to introduce a mandatory MRO option for companies with more than 500 pubs.”
Inevitable
In response to a question about whether he would be tabling an amendment to the bill, he said: “It is inevitable the Fair Deal for Your Local campaign will be lobbying MPs to amend this bill. In whose name that amendment is tabled in is a question for the MPs involved.”
He said “a minority of Conservative MPs” were blocking the inclusion of MRO but insisted both Lib Dems and Labour were committed to the policy.
The Fair Deal for Your Local Campaign also reiterated support for MRO at a meeting last week, Mulholland said. He added: “There will be no compromise on this. The question around MRO is when it is included not if. It will come in, if not in this Parliament then in the next.”
Asked if he would support a bill without an MRO element he said: “It’s not a question of not supporting it. We will be seeking to make sure the recommendations of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and the views of both licensees and the majority of MPs are reflected in the legislation.”