Please circulate this to other musicians on your email address lists
The Government is putting the final touches to a 'none in a bar' licensing reform Bill.
It is likely that this will be in the Queen's Speech on 13 November. The Government has two or three weeks in which they could change the wording of the Bill. However, if the current proposals are enacted, the provision of almost any live music in bars, pubs, restaurants etc, will be a criminal offence unless licensed: no more automatic permission for one or two live performers, amateur or professional, amplified or unamplified. Only entertainment via satellite or terrestrial tv or radio broadcasts and 'spontaneous singing not for reward or gain' will remain exempt.
The Government has promised that future licence fees will be set centrally, and will be no different whether or not live music is provided. It believes this alone removes the deterrent to entertainment licence applications. But hosting one live performer will trigger the same PEL process as now. The application will be circulated to the police, environmental health officers, the fire service and local residents.
And, as now, live music applications will flush out the nay-sayers in the community. Local authorities will be under intense pressure to be seen to be addressing concerns about noise, even if the risk is minimal or non-existent, and even though there is already plenty of legislation to pre-empt or reactively control noise. Conditions are bound to follow, and the cost implications will remain a significant deterrent, particularly for smaller businesses.
Interestingly, Culture Minister Kim Howells has recently said that the hospitality and leisure industry would 'robustly resist' any suggestion that live televised entertainment should be subject to this licensing process (which purports to address public safety, noise and crime and disorder). I wonder why?
The Government is making musicians the scapegoat for a much larger problem that is nothing to with live music The Government's justification for the draconian increase in regulation of live musicians is that 'one musician with modern amplification can make more noise than three without'. This has been the case for decades, of course, and was even true at the time the PEL exemption was introduced in 1961. The question is: how big a noise problem are live gigs? Answer: they barely feature in the noise complaint statistics. Over 80% of noise complaints are caused by noisy people in the streets. Noisy machinery or loud recorded music accounts the remaining percentage. Abolishing the two in a bar 'rule' will have no effect on people outside premises.
The Musicians' Union continues to lobby for an automatic permission for live music, if secondary to the main business of premises, up to a certain time. This is the position in Scotland where live music in this context is allowed up to 11pm - without a PEL. All such premises are regulated by UK-wide safety and noise legislation.
As the reforms currently stand it is the licensed trade that will obviously benefit: bars should find it easier to stay open late and thus increase profits. Alcohol interests are very well represented in Parliament: the All Party Beer Group is the second largest all Party group. The Government may be hoping that, when it comes to a vote, this particular lobby will ensure that deregulation of opening hours is given vastly more attention than public participation in music-making. Odd really, when you consider that this Bill is emerging from the Department for Culture whose policy statement includes a commitment to increasing public access to the performing arts.
You can do something MPs' level of interest in alcohol and music may not be as far apart as the Government thinks. Evidence for this can be found in the Early Day Motion database (EDM website: http://edm.ais.co.uk). EDM 464, called 'full pints', currently has 251 MPs in support, placing it at number 14 in the list of 2063 EDMs. It urges the Government to ensure drinkers receive fair measures. David Heath's 'two in a bar' Early Day Motion 1182, which urges the Government to reform 'outdated and just plain daft' public entertainment licensing legislation, is not far behind: it has 213 MPs signatures and stands at number 29.
MPs can continue to add their names to EDMs on the current list right up to the State Opening of Parliament (on Wednesday 13 November).
Over 100 MPs (see list below) appear on full pints EDM 464 but not on public entertainment licensing EDM 1182. I am sure many can be persuaded to sign EDM 1182. If they did, the gap would close, and this might just encourage the Government to rethink its none in a bar proposal.
Check the list below, and if you are a constituent of an MP listed please consider using the excellent online faxing service to MPs to write a short note suggesting they add their name in support of EDM 1182 promoting more live music, stressing that we don't want two in a bar to become none in a bar (you might refer to the data about noise complaints). Here's the link: www.faxyourmp.com The site can identify your MP automatically from your post code.
Candy Atherton (Lab, Falmouth and Cambourn) David Atkinson (Cons, Bournemouth East) Adrian Bailey (Lab/Co-op, West Bromwich West) Vera Baird QC (Lab, Redcar) Tony Baldry (Con, Banbury) Harry Barnes (Lab, North East Derbyshire) John Baron (Con, Billericay) John Battle (Lab, Leeds West) Anne Begg (Lab, Aberdeen South) Joe Benton (Lab, Bootle) David Borrow (Lab, South Ribble) Peter Bradley (Lab, The Wrekin) Annette L Brooke (Lib Dem, Mid Dorset & North Poole) Patsy Calton (Lib Dem, Cheadle) Tony Clarke (Lab, Northampton South) David Clelland (Lab, Tyne Bridge) Ann Clwyd (Lab, Cynon Valley) Derek Conway (Con, Old Bexley & Sidcup) Ross Cranston QC (Lab, Dudley North) Tom Cox (Lab, Tooting) John Cryer (Lab, Hornchurch) Tony Cunningham (Lab, Workington) Ian Davidson (Lab/Co-op, Glasgow Pollok) Denzil Davies (Lab, Llanelli) Terry Davis (Lab, Birmingham, Hodge Hill) Brian H Donohoe (Lab, Cunninghame South) Peter Duncan (Con, Galloway & Upper Nithsdale) Clive Efford (Lab, Monmouth) Annabelle Ewing (SNP, Perth) Mark Field (Con, Cities of London & Westminster) Barbara Follett (Lab, Stevenage) Mark Francois (Con, Rayleigh) George Galloway (Lab, Glasgow Kelvin) Neil Gerrard (Lab, Walthamstow) Sandra Gidley (Lib Dem, Romsey) Roger Godsiff (Lab, Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath) Jane Griffiths (Lab, Reading East) Win Griffiths (Lab, Bridgend) Patrick Hall (Lab, Bedford) Dr Evan Harris (Lib Dem, Oxford West & Abingdon) Stephen Hesford (Lab, Wirral West) John Horam (Con, Luton North) George Howarth (Lab, Knowsley North & Sefton East) Eric Illsley (Lab, Barnsley Central) Huw Irranca-Davies (Lab, Ogmore) Glenda Jackson (Lab, Hampstead & Highgate) Helen Jackson (Lab, Sheffield, Hillsborough) Helen Jones (Lab, Warrington North) Jon Owen Jones (Lab/Co-op, Cardiff Central) Gerald Kaufman (Lab, Manchester Gorton) Andy King (Lab, Rugby & Kenilworth) Norman Lamb (Lib Dem, North Norfolk) Jackie Lawrence (Lab, Preseli Pembrokeshire) Mark Lazarowicz (Lab/Co-op, Edinburgh North & Leith) Fiona Mactaggart (Lab, Slough) Judy Mallaber (Lab, Amber Valley) Chris McAfferty (Lab, Calder Valley) John McDonnell (Lab, Hayes & Harlington) John McFall (Lab/Co-op, Dumbarton) Ann McKechin (Lab, Glasgow Maryhill) Tony McWalter (Lab/Co-op, Hemel Hempstead) Michael Moore (Lib Dem, Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale) Malcolm Moss (Con, North East Cambridgeshire) George Mudie (Lab, Leeds East) Chris Mullin (Lab, Sunderland South) Denis Murphy (Lab, Wansbeck) Edward O'Hara (Lab, Knowsley South) Bill Olner (Lab, Nuneaton) Dr Nick Palmer (Lab, Broxtowe) Linda Perham (Lab, Ilford North) Colin Pickthall (Lab, West Lancashire) Chris Pond (Lab, Gravesham) Mark Prisk (Con, Hertford & Stortford) Dr John Pugh (Lib Dem, Southport) Joyce Quin (Lab, Gateshead East & Washington West) John Redwood (Con, Wokingham) David Rendel (Lib Dem, Newbury) Frank Roy (Lab, Motherwell & Wishaw) Christine Russell (Lab, City of Chester) Alex Salmond (SNP, Banff & Buchan) Martin Salter (Lab, Reading West) Adrian Sanders (Lib Dem, Torbay) Malcolm Savidge (Lab, Aberdeen North) Jim Sheridan (Lab, West Renfrewshire) Marsha Singh (Lab, Bradford West) Debra Shipley (Lab, Stourbridge) Sir Robert Smith (Lib Dem, West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine) George Stevenson (Lab, Stoke-on-Trent South) Gary Streeter (Con, South West Devon) Mark Tami (Lab, Alyn & Deeside) John Taylor (Con, Solihull) Dr Richard Taylor (Ind, Wyre Forest) Sir Teddy Taylor (Con, Rochford & Southend East) Dr Jenny Tonge (Lib Dem, Richmond Park) Jon Trickett (Lab, Hemsworth) Paul Truswell (Lab, Pudsey) Dennis Turner (Lab/Co-op, Wolverhampton South East) Robert N Wareing (Lab, Liverpool, West Derby) Tom Watson (Lab, West Bromwich East) Dave Watts (Lab, St Helens North) Michael Weir (SNP, Angus) John Wilkinson (Con, Ruislip - Northwood) Alan Williams (Lab, Swansea West) Hywel Williams (PC, Caernarfon) Sir Nicholas Winterton (Con, Macclesfield) Pete Wishart (SNP, North Tayside) Tony Wright (Lab, Cannock Chase)