The Licensing Bill dissected
Andrew McNeill examines the Bill
and its likely effects

The Government's Licensing Bill looks set to achieve the remarkable feat of undermining not merely the national strategy against alcohol misuse before it has even been published but also its own policies for an urban renaissance.

No Government serious about reducing either the abuse of alcohol or of improving the liveability of town and city centres would countenance introducing a Bill which plays the same role in relation to these two objectives as the Al Qaida network does in the war against terrorism.

Give the Government credit. It has apparently succeeded against the odds in persuading most Parliamentarians that this Bill is basically non-controversial, opposed only by a small minority of cranks and killjoys.

To the gullible it promises that not only can 24 hour drinking be introduced without causing additional problems but even that the simple expedient of abolishing fixed closing times will somehow transform the drinking culture and put an end to binge drinking, a pattern of consumption which has been evident in Britain since before the Vikings and which is an increasing problem internationally.

It is the nonsense about binge drinking that has allowed the Government to convince the ignorant and the credulous that they can be a trendy liberal and David Blunkett simultaneously. On the basis of a highly selective and, to put it mildly, optimistic reading of the evidence the Government has persuaded them that the evils of fixed closing times are such that every lager lout's dream of unlimited public drinking should be introduced as a major contribution to combating yob culture.

The public know better. There is neither a region nor an age-group in this country with a majority in favour of 24 hour drinking – women are particularly strongly opposed – and residents' and amenity groups from town and city centres across the country as well as a growing number of local authorities are now starting to express their opposition to key sections of the Bill. They know from direct experience that as the numbers of licensed premises in city centres has grown and hours of trading have lengthened, the problems of crime, disorder and nuisance have got worse and worse – exactly the opposite of what the Government pretends is the case.

The key consideration is the cumulative impact of concentrations of late licensed premises, resulting in late night activity outstripping the capacity of local services, particularly police and transport, to cope.

Local residents and local authorities know that far from improving the situation, the Bill as drafted expressly forbids local authorities to take this aspect into account, thus weakening their ability to deal with the resulting problems.

Even a cursory look at the Bill and, still more, the Guidance accompanying it, reveals the duplicitous nature of Government propaganda.

To local residents the Government says, "We're extending trading hours up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but don't worry, we're giving you a real say in what happens. Look at the White Paper - the whole point of transferring responsibility to local authorities is to encourage local accountability."

But to the late night alcohol and entertainment industry the Government says something very different: "We're transferring responsibility for alcohol licensing to local authorities, but you don't need to worry because they are being denied the discretion allowed by the present system in regard to the granting of licences and conditions placed on them. We're making sure that local authorities have to follow the Secretary of State's Guidance, and that ensures that local licensing policies are devoid of any real content."

Clearly, one of these assurances has to be humbug, and there is no question as to which. If you disempower the licensing authority, then by definition you also disempower the local communities it serves. The Guidance makes it clear that even in residential areas local authorities will not be allowed to set general closing times, whatever the views of the local population. Democratic accountability? No wonder the leader of one of the major London Boroughs recently described the Guidance to the Bill as the most pro-industry and anti-resident document he had seen in his time in local government.

We are clearly headed for the fate already reported for Scotland where "liberalisation has gone too far, meeting the interests of the licensed trade and a minority of drinkers at the expense of the wider community." If there is still any doubt, remember the Government's message to potential voters before the election. They were not encouraged to vote for a Government because it would end the drunken mayhem making their town centres a no-go area every Saturday night but rather "If you don't give a XXXX for closing times vote Labour."

One does not need to be a professor of sub-texts to get the message – if you like partying through the night and don't give a XXXX for the consequences for others, vote for us because we've got the Bill for you. What is so alarming local residents and others who have the wellbeing of town and city centres at heart, is that they have.

Andrew McNeill is Co-Director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies.
This article also appears in the December 2002 issue of Parlimentary Monitor.