From Equity's Magazine Autumn 2010 (not available online):

'Assistant General Secretary Stephen Spence and Louise McMullan met with John Penrose MP, minister for tourism, on 20 September. The minister, who has responsibility for the Licensing Act, was keen to open up a channel of communication with the union and was ve...ry receptive to Equity's arguments concerning the 'regulated entertainment' provisions of the Licensing Act. He stated that he was committed to working with us to find a solution to the issues faced by our members that can also accommodate the concerns of local authorities.

John King comments:
This is a pity. It is not possible to accommodate the 'concerns' of the LGA. The LGA misled their own members and the press with a bogus survey of 'licensing chiefs', and published false statistics about live music licensing.

Their concerns are for their own interests only and are not relevant when the issue is the fair enforcement of delegated legislation. The LGA Group lobby must be seen to enforce fairly, all of its responsibilties under the Licensing Act 2003. It is now clear that this is not the case and that this approach is actually the cause of the issues faced by Equity's members.

As demonstrated in many of the examples in this thread, there are many instances where they have been prepared to be seen to sacrifice one licensable activty in order to enable another. This is evidence, not of this lobby protecting the public but of using the legislation to illegally discriminate against the interests of live music and other cultural activities.