What is the petition about?
A brief description of some of the problems caused by the Licensing Act, and why it needs to be fixed.
The Licensing Act 2003 was brought into law in spite of the fact that serious questions had been raised about some of the effects it would have. The government chose to publicise the bill as liberalising the licensing laws, removing archaic pub closing times and curbing "binge drinking". What they kept rather more quiet about were all the other measures that came with it. Throughout recent history, you had needed a license to play music in a pub, but there was a well-worn exemption which allowed two musicians to play without a license: the two-in-a-bar rule. This wasn't exactly great, but you could live with it.
With the new act, not just pubs, but basically anywhere required a license, for music, dancing, or pretty much doing anything except sitting or standing still talking. The effects of this were widely discussed before the bill went through parliament, and certain exemptions were introduced to take care of various groups with a loud enough voice. What remained was still dreadful, and that is the law as it stands today. You're basically guilty until proved innocent, and you can't even swing for it yourself, as the punishment will be exacted on someone else.
Yes - it's illegal to sing Christmas carols in the pub. And when the New Year came in, if you sang Auld Lang Syne in a pub which had not obtained a license for it, you were taking part in breaking the law. You'll be alright though. It's the pub landlord who's actually going to get in trouble. If you noticed anyone taking notes, it may well have been the local council's licensing officers; your pub landlord might already be lined up to face a huge fine. Think about that. You sing Auld Lang Syne, or Happy Birthday or whatever, and someone else cops a fine. Nice, eh?
Music and dance can not of themselves be equated with nuisance, nor should they be. Apologists for the bill have claimed that it is to control people who are essentially bad neighbours. This is nonsense, as there were already perfectly good measures to take care of such people.
The UK has long had a tradition of allowing its citizens the conceit that they live in a free country: that laws will be fair, and necessary, or at least helpful. This law is none of these things. The people of England and Wales have only to look to Scotland for a system that works much better, and has been doing so for some years. Alternatively, you could look to England's southerly neigbours. I live in the Netherlands, and I don't suffer from any such nonsense.
