Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 March 2021
I congratulate Neil Bibby and his team for the tremendous amount of work that they have done to get the bill to this stage. I hope that the bill will be passed this evening. I also thank the minister for the positive approach that he has taken, which was evident at stage 2, when the bill came to the committee.
I will focus on the letter that the Scottish Licensed Trade Association sent to all MSPs today. It makes the following points, which are worth restating.
“For too long, large pub-owning companies have taken more than their fair share from publicans. Too often they have held their tied tenants back, restricted consumer choice and failed to properly regulate themselves and keep their house in order. They have put their own profits before the sustainability of local pubs and fairness for tied pub tenants. It cannot go on.”
It continues:
“The Tied Pubs Bill delivers a fairer deal for tied publicans, with a new statutory Pubs Code. It would rebalance tied agreements, shifting power from the large pubcos to the local pubs who desperately need your help. It allows tenants to opt-out of tied deals that aren’t working. It will give publicans more choice over the drinks they stock to help meet consumer demand, promote Scottish products and sustain their business. The Tied Pubs Bill will also be very positive for Scotland’s small brewers, who at the moment are restricted from access to pubs owned by the big brewers and pubcos operating the tie.
The fact that global brewers and pubcos are so desperate to stop this Bill exposes the fact that they take too much from pub profits. The reality is that the Market Rent Only option is just that, an option and if they want to keep publicans tied, they need to offer much better deals, lower prices and lower rents. That’s all the Bill calls for – fairness and a fair split of pub profits, which all MSPs must surely agree with.”
The letter also makes the point that,
“In England, pubcos have continued to invest in pubs, despite the Pubs Code and if they want to continue to own and operate pubs, they will do the same in Scotland.”
I will also refer to the survey that the SLTA carried out, as the key data points in that survey are quite stark. They show that 50 per cent of tied pub tenants report earning less than £20,000 a year, with 34 per cent earning less than £15,000 a year. In many cases, those amounts are for a couple, not for an individual. A shocking 58 per cent of tied pub tenants reported earning less than the minimum wage, with just 13 per cent earning more than the minimum wage. The average price paid for a keg of standard lager by tied pubs is a staggering 61 per cent higher than the open market price, with some paying as much as 107 per cent more than would be paid on the open market. It is also reported that 81 per cent say that the information that was provided to them when they entered the lease was inaccurate or misleading.
That demonstrates why there was a need for the bill. I congratulate Neil Bibby once again on bringing the bill to Parliament, and I hope that everyone will support it at decision time.
18:40