Gerry Sutcliffe, minister for licensing, has given a jaw-dropping interview openly opposing Alistair Darling’s Budget. He wants the chancellor to “change his mind” about the alcohol duty increase. Yes, “change his mind”.
We cannot think of the last time a minister, indeed an experienced minister, so brazenly opposed a central Budget measure. This is an extraordinary breach of discipline. It is bound to lead to a deluge of negative commentary on the state of the Brown government. What was he thinking?
Here are the relevant extracts from the Morning Advertiser, the pub industry’s trade mag:
Asked by the Morning Advertiser if lobbying on duty was now a waste of time….Sutcliffe said: “You say that, but we’ve had examples like the fuel levy where the impact on a sector has been massive — and the decision has been deferred.
“I’m not saying that will happen, but that’s where the trade needs to focus the basis of its argument.”
He added: “I think the industry’s right to be upset. We, and I speak as a champion of the pub trade, want the Chancellor to change his mind.
“The next opportunity will be the pre-Budget report in November. But the industry has seriously got to get its act together in working out what its priorities are.”
Sutcliffe said the trade is letting itself down on lobbying: “The industry’s problem is that it’s not united. My message is: sort yourselves out.
“If all that’s said is, ‘Woe is me, everything’s bad, the rise has made it worse, and we’re all going to die,’ that is not the way to do things.
“What the industry’s got to do is say, ‘That wasn’t helpful, but if we do this and this and become more proactive, and more positive, we’ll get where we need to be.”
UPDATE: We suspect Mr Sutcliffe, pictured second from the left, may well need his hard-hat today.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey
