Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 March 2021
My amendments 12, 13 and 8 aim to provide clarity for pub-owning businesses and tied pub tenants, who have all raised concerns about the impact on investment in their businesses due to the current wording of the bill. My amendments would ensure that some parameters are set in the detail of the pubs code that will give a limited degree of confidence that investments in sites can continue at this crucial point in the sector’s recovery. As the bill is currently drafted, there can be no protections contained in the code and, crucially, no foresight, beyond the comments of the current minister.
That will create significant problems for pub companies in identifying funding and in conversations with lenders. Both landlords and tenants have said that they have real concerns about the impact on future investment, even if amendments 12, 13 and 8 are agreed to. A degree of uncertainty and investment risk in tied pubs is now inevitable, which is a real shame. At the very least, the amendments will ensure that there must be—not may be—some provisions to enable a return in investment made, without the risk of an MRO being triggered during that time. That is the only difference to the Government’s amendment 9, although the difference is critical.
Since the introduction of the code in England and Wales in 2016, Scottish pubs’ share of Great Britain-wide spend has doubled. If the amendments are not agreed to, that trend could be reversed, putting the Scottish tied-pubs sector at a competitive disadvantage in comparison to the rest of the UK.
As members well know, the whole hospitality sector is currently on its knees and investment will be crucial to aiding its recovery. My amendments seek to give the sector a limited degree of confidence at this time.
I move amendment 12.