Welsh Conservatives vow to revive Welsh pub culture and economy

Welsh Conservatives will today (14/04) announce its commitment to revive an ailing pub industry and bolster support for brewers and small businesses.

To mark this commitment, the Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies and prospective AM for the Vale of Glamorgan, Ross England, will visit the Vale of Glamorgan Brewery in Barry.

Pursuing a low tax agenda, Welsh Conservatives will set out plans to cut business rates and empower communities to help secure the future of pubs across the country.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has published figures showing that two pubs close in Wales every week.

As well as its intention to abolish business rates for small businesses, Welsh Conservatives plan to cut red tape and introduce the right to bid to help people protect community assets.

In England, the right to bid has empowered communities to help save threatened community assets, but no similar power exists in Wales.

A Welsh Conservative Government would take steps to change this and put Wales on an equal footing with England.

Ross England, a prospective Welsh Conservative AM for the Vale of Glamorgan, said:

“Pubs are at the heart of our communities and are deeply rooted in our history, but many face considerable challenges to stay open.

“Welsh Conservatives want to use a low tax agenda to support local pubs and protect the role they place in society as an economic, social and cultural hub.

“A Welsh Conservative Government will save local pubs by cutting business taxes, axing red tape and introducing the right to bid to enable people to safeguard community assets.”

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, said:

“The local pub is to many communities across Wales a cultural and social centre point, but under Labour, three are closing every week.

“The Welsh Labour Government rejected the chance to use the Localism Act to introduce a ‘Right to Bid’, which would have given communities the same rights as people in England to protect local assets.

“If people want to strengthen their community and work together to protect local assets, this is something that government should encourage, yet Labour continues to block public engagement.

“The pub industry is a major employer in Wales, but is under threat from taxation, cheap supermarket alcohol and excessive red tape.

“Conservatives in government are supporting the pub industry and breweries by cutting duty on beer, freezing tax on spirits and ciders and empowering communities to save their pub.

“In failing to embrace the Right to Bid, Labour is not only ignoring the plight of Welsh pubs but hastening their decline by failing to reform business taxes, which Welsh Conservatives want to cut.

“A Welsh Conservative Government would cut business rates and empower Welsh communities to protect jobs and enable local people to have a say on how their local assets are managed.”