The PUBlic Affairs round-up returns for July with updates on how the Campaigns and Communications team has been campaigning for pubs, pints and people across Westminster, devolved parliaments and local government. 

Cider and Perry Month is in full swing, with events kicking off across the country to celebrate the producers behind some of the best examples in the UK. 

Read on to find out how other campaigns are progressing. 

Westminster 

Access to Market Review

The Department for Business and Trade has been reviewing independent breweries’ access to market as promised by the chancellor at her Autumn Budget 2024.  

The team has been working closely with government officials during the process, and an initial report is due later in the year. 

All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group Annual Dinner

We attended the group’s annual dinner in July. 

We networked with MPs, including Sarah Champion, Ben Maguire and Greg Smith, discussing key asks for pubs, pints and people at the Autumn Budget, and the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.  

Extended Producer Responsibility scheme

In 2024, the government published fee estimates for the scheme that could be paid consumers, pubs and independent breweries. 

Sarah Champion continues to raise concerns in parliament, along with other MPs, and the beer and pubs sector raising issues with ministers.  

CAMRA is still supporting calls for changes to the scheme, including ending double payments for pubs. 

Health 10 Year Plan

The government has published its 10 Year Health Plan for England, although some of the proposals in it will apply across the UK.  

This includes an agreement to consult on changing the upper ABV threshold for labelling products as alcohol free to 0.5 per cent. Nutritional information and mandatory health warnings will also appear on alcohol products. 

Spending Review

On 11 June, the chancellor delivered her Spending Review to set out three years of spending decisions for government departments.  

No decisions or policy changes were made for consumers, pubs, clubs, breweries and cider makers, but will be taken into the Autumn Budget. 

UNESCO petition

As part of the Craft Beer Channel’s Keep Cask Alive campaign, it launched a parliamentary petition calling on government to recognise the production and serving of cask beer as Intangible Cultural Heritage under a UNESCO scheme.  

The team was involved in planning this petition, and has been promoting it through various communication channels, including our social media accounts. 

The petition now has 32,000 signatures, with 100,000 needed for it to be considered for debate in parliament. Please sign it here. 

Planning and Community ownership [England-only]

Paul Ainsworth (planning policy adviser) Mark Dodds (CAMRA director), Jane Eason (chief of Campaigns and Communications) and chief executive Tom Stainer had a constructive meeting with Alex Norris MP, minister of Housing, Community and Local Government on planning and community ownership. 

Dialogue will continue with the minister’s office, including civil servants responsible for planning policy within the department.  

CAMRA is asking the government for:  

• introduction of a legal definition of a pub for planning purposes  

• demolition or conversion of a pub without planning permission to be made illegal (as against unlawful) 

• Introduction of a “brick-by-brick” planning enforcement order in England, requiring the complete restoration of unlawfully demolished pubs 

• strengthening the enforcement options for local councils 

• introduction of a requirement that all major housing developments should be constructed with accompanying community facilities including at least one pub 

• a dedicated funding pot to help deliver community ownership of pubs following the closure of the Community Ownership Fund 

• better protections for pubs under the High Street Rental Auction scheme. 

The government published the English Devolution Bill in July, with parliamentary process beginning in autumn. Two provisions, Community Right to Buy and Rent Reviews, are relevant for beer, pubs and consumers. 

The rent reviews legislation will ban upward-only rent reviews in commercial leases. 

Groups will have first refusal on purchases of community assets with an Asset of Community Value (ACV) listing up for sale as part of the Community Right to Buy. 

Key policy changes include: 

• the community group and asset owner will either negotiate a price for the asset, or an independent valuer will set a price based on the market value  

• the moratorium on the sale of the asset will be extended to 12 months 

• asset owners will be able to ask the local authority to check that community. Groups are making sufficient progress on the sale six months into the moratorium

• the definition of an ACV will be expanded to help protect a wider range of assets

• community groups will be able to appeal the local authority’s decision on whether an asset is of community value 

• local authorities will be supported to deliver the powers with new guidance. 

The team will continue to work the relevant minister, civil servants and MPs to ensure the bill’s provisions and review of how the ACV regime can be more effective, while aiming to progress our wider planning protections calls.  

Law Commission Review of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (England and Wales)

Paul Ainsworth and Ellie Hudspith have previously met with the commission, and a short policy submission was made by the team earlier this year.  

The existing “contracting out” model, which we argued for the continuation of, has been provisionally concluded as the right model with a second stage consultation expected in future. 

Read the Law Commission’s interim statement here.  

Pubs Code for England and Wales

The team is drafting an official submission to the Pubs Code and Pubs Adjudicator (PCA): statutory review and post-implementation review, 2022 to 2025. 

A series of roundtables will be held by the minister, Justin Madders MP, as part of the review, and Tom Stainer will be attending to talk about our views on how the code has been operating. 

CAMRA is also calling for a guest beer right to be introduced as part of the Pubs Code Review, as is now in operation in Scotland.  

MPs have asked questions to parliament and the minister on our behalf, including Ben Maguire MP (Lib Dem, North Cornwall). 

The PCA carried out a Tied Tenant Survey 2025, and the results were published in July. 

Scottish government and parliament 

Planning and Community Ownership

The Scottish government launched a consultation on improving Community Right to Buy legislation. 

CAMRA will draft a submission highlighting the need to make community buyouts of pubs in Scotland easier, as well as changes in planning laws to close the loophole that allows the demolition of freestanding pubs without planning permission.  

Welsh government and Senedd Cymru 

Business rates

A consultation to introduce permanent, lower business rate multipliers for small retailers was announced by the Welsh government. 

Gary Timmins (Pub and Club Campaigns director) and Chris Charters (regional director for Wales) have written to Mark Drakeford MS, the cabinet secretary for Finance, asking him to extend proposals to beer and pub businesses.  

The cabinet secretary responded urging us to respond to the consultation to make the case for extending proposals to hospitality businesses, while referencing the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Rates Relief scheme implemented 2020-21.  

A formal consultation response is being drafted by the team.  

Planning

After recommendations from the Law Commission, the Welsh government has published draft legislation which consolidates planning laws in Wales into one piece of legislation. 

In response to this, CAMRA will be pushing for changes to planning laws in Wales, including the need for planning permission when a pub is converted or demolished. 

Senedd Cymru/Welsh parliament stall

The Cross-Party Group on Beer and Pubs organised a stall in the Senedd to speak to MSs about the group and our campaigns on business rates and planning, which Ellie Hudspith helped staff. 

Northern Ireland executive and assembly 

Licensing Review

The University of Stirling published an independent review of Northern Ireland’s alcohol licensing in February. 

The minister is due to respond by 20 August.