Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 March 2021
These amendments would ensure that the guest beer provision could be used only by a small brewer and not by a larger multinational brewer, which would already have routes to market. The bill allows any brewer, regardless of its size or location, to take advantage of the provision. Amendment 4 is aimed at preventing a race to the bottom on price, which would result only in smaller domestic brewers being priced out.
At stage 2, Neil Bibby helpfully mentioned Strathaven Ales. Strathaven is near where I live, in East Kilbride, and I can attest to the fine produce of Strathaven Ales. I am applying the Strathaven Ales test to ensure that smaller breweries get a fair slice of the cake.
Without my amendments, far from encouraging more domestically produced beer into our pubs, we would have fewer opportunities for smaller brewers to access pubs, because pub-owning companies would need to compete in their own premises with larger brewers. Far from encouraging the provision of more Scottish beers in Scottish pubs, the bill without amendment would result in fewer domestic brands from smaller producers appearing in tied pubs. It would fail the Strathaven Ales test.
The bill could be seen to prevent the setting of further parameters on guest beers in the code because of the words:
“regardless of who produces it”.
Amendment 4 addresses that by stipulating that the beer would be
“provided … by a small brewery”.
Amendment 6 would grant the power to define a small brewery in the code. The amendments are all aimed at ensuring that the bill would do what I believe Neil Bibby intended when he introduced it.
I move amendment 4.