Clive Jones

I will carry on, if the hon. Gentleman does not mind. To add insult to injury, the Prime Minister at the time managed to launch the policy with a photo opportunity in which he lifted up a beer keg for all to see. The keg was a 30-litre container, which did not qualify for the discount he was launching. If I were him, I might have drowned my sorrows in a couple of pints of Apocalypse Meow after that one. The industry knows which parties in this place have its back. After pressure from the Liberal Democrats, the Government applied the draught discount to containers of 20 litres or more. I do not believe that the former Prime Minister returned to lift more kegs to mark his U-turn. A key challenge that comes up time and again, especially when I talk to local independent pubs, is the crushing impact of the broken business rates system. The Liberal Democrats have been calling for years for it to be reformed and replaced with a commercial landowner levy based on the value of landlords’ land, which would remove the responsibility for this tax from local businesses. This fair reform has one core goal: supporting our local economies to thrive and grow. I am led to believe that the Government place a very high value on growth. They are right to do so, but they will not get it while small local businesses choke under the weight of the outdated business system and increases in employer national insurance contributions. My hon. Friend the Member for Woking spoke eloquently about the impact of extended producer responsibility on the industry. He is not wrong. It is a cause for huge concern among those I talk to across the drinks and hospitality sector. Our party welcomes the Government’s intention to make packaging more sustainable, but it cannot be at the expense of uncertainty and financial turmoil for local businesses, with all the economic consequences that that brings. The assumption that local authorities will recycle the packaging from drinks bought in the pub is flawed, and the proposal means that pubs may pay for waste disposal twice: once for private recycling, and then again through EPR-related charges from producers. I urge the Minister to consider our call to exempt pubs from EPR, and to review the scope and timeline of that policy to avoid further harm to our hospitality sector. Will he today commit to a review of how successful the extended draught duty cut has been in supporting hospitality? If he finds that it has been successful, with all the economic benefits that that will bring, will he consider reducing it further to help our struggling pubs across the country?