Toby Perkins MP, Labour’s Shadow Small Business Minister, commenting on the government’s consultation response on pub companies, said:

“Labour has led calls for a statutory code to give local pubs the protection they need and ensure landlords get a fair deal. Any action to help pubs is welcome, particularly after ministers have dragged their feet for more than three years, during which time hundreds of publicans have lost their livelihoods.

“However, the changes announced today do not include a free-of-tie option or the genuinely independent rent reviews which Labour and campaigners have been calling for. It is also hard to see what the parallel rent assessments will actually deliver and how these proposals will prevent the large increase in pub closures seen in the last year.

“Labour will work with the government to get the Code on to the statute book as quickly as possible, but will press ministers to ensure it has sufficient teeth to make a genuine difference for publicans, safeguards the future of the industry and delivers the real change publicans have been calling for.”