The following from Hamish Birchall

Yesterday's Guardian (04 March) carried a report headed 'Howells made to face the music', and a sub-heading 'Culture Minister backs down on unpopular licensing Bill and agrees to work with Musicians' Union'.

This was, unfortunately, premature. General Secretary John Smith met Kim Howells yesterday. The meeting was constructive, but the Minister made it clear that he would not accept changes to the Bill, including any unamplified exemption.

The Government strategy seems to be to make a public gesture of conciliation, but in fact we are being put under strong pressure to accept the blanket licensing regime and work with the Government purely on the Guidance to 'ensure that the leisure and entertainment industry take up the opportunities provided by the new licensing regime and increase opportunities for performers to perform'.

Indeed, the DCMS wanted the MU to issue a joint press release to that effect. We have proposed amendments to the joint statement reflecting our fundamental difficulty with the proposed regime. At the time of writing the DCMS has yet to respond. It is likely John Smith will issue his own press release.