A cabinet minister has said pubs are “a great part of British life” as he poured cold water on the suggestion there could be changes to their opening hours.
Pat McFadden vowed to table an emergency resolution at his party’s conference to halt any alleged change to venue licensing times “if that’s on the agenda”.
His comments come after a report in The Telegraph that public health and prevention minister Andrew Gwynne suggested “tightening up on some of the hours of operation”.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it was “categorically untrue” to suggest it was considering changes to licensing policy.
McFadden told LBC: “I don’t think there’s any plan to shut the pubs early. The pub is a great part of British life. I don’t have a drink during the conference, but that is partly so I can look forward to having a nice one when the conference is over, and I hope the pub will be open when I go in.”
Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Gwynne is reported to have said there “are discussions that we have got to have – even if it’s just about tightening up on some of the hours of operation, particularly where there are concerns that people are drinking too much”.
But a spokesman for his department said: “It is categorically untrue that the government is considering changing alcohol licensing hours.”
