A minister has said pubs are “a great part of British life” as he ruled out changes to their opening hours.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden vowed to table an emergency resolution at his party’s conference to halt any alleged change to venue licensing times “if that’s on the agenda”.
It comes after a report in The Telegraph that public health and prevention minister Andrew Gwynne suggested “tightening up on some of the hours of operation”.
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The Department of Health and Social Care said it was “categorically untrue” to suggest it was considering changes to licensing policy.
“We’ve got a day left of the conference and if that’s on the agenda, I’m going to table an emergency resolution myself in order to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Mr McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think we’ve been clear about that overnight, the pub’s a great part of the British tradition and we’ve got no plans to change the opening hours in that way.”
He later told LBC: “I don’t think there’s any plan to shut the pubs early. The pub is a great part of British life.
“I don’t have a drink during conference,” he added, “but that is partly so I can look forward to having a nice one when the conference is over, and I hope the pub will be open when I go in”.
Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Mr Gwynne is reported to have said there “are discussions that we have got to have – even if it’s just about tightening up on some of the hours of operation, particularly where there are concerns that people are drinking too much”.
But a spokesman for his department said: “It is categorically untrue that the government is considering changing alcohol licensing hours.”
Emma McClarkin, the British Beer and Pub Association chief executive, welcomed Mr McFadden’s denial of the reports.
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She said: “It is a huge relief that the idea of restricting pub hours has been quashed, as it suggested a fundamental misunderstanding about how people drink.
“As the chancellor said, this budget will be about economic growth, so it’s important to avoid baffling proposals that would not only ineffectively tackle an issue, but diminish the economy and put jobs at risk.”
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She added: “The great British pub is at the heart of communities up and down the country who put their faith in Labour for the first time in a generation.
“We urge the party not to turn its back on them now they are in government and to honour those promises for the future survival of this vital industry.”
Ms McClarkin had previously criticised a plan to ban smoking in pub gardens, which she said could have “a devastating impact on pubs who are already struggling with soaring energy prices and the cost of doing business”.
