Pub Minister 'a travesty' ,says Bloom

Monday, 8th February 2010

THE Government's appointment of a Minister for Pubs has been blasted by UKIP as too little too late.

"The announcement that John Healey, the MP for Wentworth as 'Minister for Pubs' is a travesty", said UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.

"Given that this Government has been responsible for a whole stream of devastating legislation that has brought the pub industry to its knees it is worse than that, it is an insult", he said.

"There is no doubt that Mr Healey is, in himself, a great supporter of the pub trade but his appointment, too late in the day for the 2,500 pubs that have closed in the last year, seems more concerned with the election than it does the pub trade."

He will no doubt talk about the price differentials between supermarkets and pubs, the impact of the big Pubcos and so on, but in the next three months there is nothing concrete he can do apart from waft a hoppy smell over this government's failed policies."