Standard defends your right to know

THE Henley Standard is standing with the local newspaper industry in campaigning against plans to scrap laws on advertising alcohol licensing notices.

Hundreds of weekly titles have published the “Defend Your Right to Know” front-page cover calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Business Secretary Peter Kyle to abandon proposals to shroud the sale of alcohol in local communities in secrecy.  

The joint front page is part of the local news sector’s campaign against government proposals to remove the statutory requirement for alcohol licensing notices to be published in local newspapers.

The plans are part of a wider review of the licensing regime in England and Wales.

The front page explains why the Government's plans risk shrouding local communities in secrecy and urges readers to respond to the licensing reform consultation which closes at noon on Thursday.

Jeremy Spooner, chief executive of Baylis Community Media CIC, publisher of the Henley Standard, said: “Alcohol licensing notices are not red tape. They are a means for local communities to engage meaningfully with plans to sell alcohol in their local area.

“Removing alcohol licensing notices from local papers will do absolutely nothing to help either pubs or papers — instead it will deal a hammer blow to local democratic engagement, just at a time when government is seeking to decentralise power from Westminster.”

Mr Spooner, who is also chair of the News Media Association’s Independent Publishers Forum, added: “There is still time for ministers to abandon this ill-conceived plan and instead focus on pro-growth interventions that will deliver genuine benefits to the local British businesses which power our local economies.”

Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo said: “Residents should always be made aware of alcohol licensing changes affecting them and the local press plays a really important role in ensuring that.”

To take part in the public consultation, visit tinyurl
.com/pvxyyhr2