Lord Faulkner of Worcester:
The Bill seeks to reintroduce a variant of the old exemption for one or two musicians performing in a premises licensed for alcohol-the "two in a bar" exemption. The old exemption was not universally popular with musicians and was not widely used. A limit on the number of performers discriminates against musicians who perform in larger bands.

The fact that the two-in-a-bar rule was not popular may be true, that it was not widlely used is not in any way true.

The use of this partial exemption may be difficult for the DCMS to quantify and measure but perhaps it is in the nature of the best exemptions, that they work with the mininium of fuss and red tape.

It seems strange for a Government about to introduce an exemption which will discriminate against larger venues to critise one which they claim dicriminated against larger bands.

It may be a good idea to point out that the 200 limit proposed by the Lib Dems Bill is limited to premises already licensed for alcohol (as was the case also with the two-in-a-bar rule) but the proposed consultation on the 100 limit, is not.