Licensing (Restaurant Meals) Bill [H.L.] (Hansard, 28 January 1987)

§ Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a Third time.
In moving the Third Reading of this Bill I should like briefly to thank noble Lords in all parts of the House who have given support during the various earlier stages. I should also like to thank many other noble Lords who, outside this House and outside this Chamber, have given me an enormous amount of support and encouragement in proceeding with this Bill. I want particularly to thank my noble friend Lord Caithness, who unfortunately cannot be here this evening, for his understanding and constructive comments on the Bill both during the debate and outside the Chamber.
During the Committee stage of the Bill my noble friend Lord Caithness said that the Government looked upon this Bill in its new modified form with "benevolent neutrality". I hope that my noble friend Lord Beaverbrook, who is taking the Bill tonight, will encourage his right honourable friend, when this Bill comes to another place, to increase the benevolence without modifying the neutrality, unless of course that changes to outright support.
This Bill is about improving the quality of life for British citizens and tourists. It puts the restaurant trade on the same basis as in Continental Europe and creates jobs. It is a very short and simple measure and it deserves to succeed. I wish it godspeed, and beg to move.

§ Baroness Ewart-Biggs
My Lords, I think all of us who have been involved with the passage of this Bill will be very grateful to the noble Viscount for, in the first place, bringing the subject forward yet again, this time in a slightly different guise. Also, we are very grateful to him for his willingness to make some fundamental changes in his Bill at Committee stage as a result of certain suggestions coming from speakers in the debate. There is little doubt that his Bill is now a better Bill and that the proposals it contains really will give restaurant owners the benefit they want, and will also give the users of restaurants and tourists a very much more peaceful way of having their meals. So there is a great deal to be said for the noble Viscount's initiative in the first place, and also for his flexibility in making the changes that were necessary.
The noble Viscount remarked on the Government's decision to look at this Bill with benevolent neutrality. Without wishing to be a real wet blanket I should again like to remind the Government of the very widespread concern that has been expressed recently about intoxication and all the dangers of going too far in liberalising our licensing laws. I think it is the imminent passage of a Bill in another place which has brought out a great deal of concern and comment from organisations and individuals. Also, we have been reminded of some very worrying statistics about the extent in the first place of drink-related accidents on our roads; the number of beds in our hospitals which are occupied by patients suffering from drink-related diseases; and the number of offenders in our prisons who are there for having committed drink-related crimes.
So, although I join the noble Viscount in welcoming this particular change which he has brought about in this Bill, and I would like to support that initiative, I should like again to ask the Government to think seriously of looking at the whole subject, the whole area of alcohol consumption in this country together with our licensing laws, as is happening in other countries in Europe. At the same time, I wish that the Government would make more money available to services for health education and for general public information on alcohol matters.

§ Lord Monson
My Lords, I rise briefly to congratulate the noble Viscount on his efforts. I warmly welcome this step towards a more civilised Britain or, to be more accurate, a more civilised England and Wales, because the Scots set us a good example on this matter some years ago.
I congratulate the noble Viscount, too, on having had the good sense to compromise. If those who supported the Shops Bill had had the wisdom to make even one tangible concession to their opponents we might not have had the misfortune of losing that Bill altogether. With that, I wish this Bill every success in another place.

§ Lord Beaverbrook
My Lords, it falls to me on this occasion to congratulate my noble friend Lord Montgomery upon the way in which he has steered his Bill thus far. It is not quite the Bill he introduced but, as he has readily acknowledged, it meets the concern of the restaurant trade to be able to offer drinks with 1406 meals throughout the day. We are grateful to him for restricting the scope of his original proposals so that instead of the prospect of licensed restaurants operating 24 hours a day without adequate safeguards against disorder, noise and nuisance, we have a modest measure but one that will nevertheless be welcome to many. If passed, the Bill will not only ease some of the restrictions on restaurants but may also enable some of us to enjoy a glass of wine with a late lunch. I shall watch its progress in another place with interest.

§ Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
My Lords, in conclusion perhaps I may thank my noble friend for those words of encouragement, and reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Ewart-Biggs, that I do not think that any of the preoccupations that she has expressed—and they are very genuine ones—will in any way be prejudiced by the passage of this Bill. With those few words, I commend the Bill to the House.