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YFA: Information: The Licensing Bill |
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Patrons: Norma Waterson MBE & Kate Rusby |
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| The Licensing Bill | |||||
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The vexed and complicated question of live music and dance on licensed and other premises and the government's plans for reform will, whether we like it or not, have a considerable impact on the folk arts. Will the new laws cure, or kill? We don't have the answers, but as the debate continues things look increasingly ominous, despite the bland reassurances of government spokesmen. The links below may at least give you a clearer idea of the legal and practical background, and of what ministers say they want to achieve. These are external sites, so we cannot guarantee their accuracy. The Lords added a number of amendments which would have mitigated considerably the potential harm to folk music and similar small-scale musical activities, but ministers refused , for reasons not adequately explained or justified, to accept the most sensible of these, though they did at least made a belated pretence of consulting expert bodies like the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Although the Lords re-inserted their amendment exempting small venues (which would have included most pubs where sessions and folk clubs take place), the Liberal Democrat peers withdrew their support after making a behind-the-scenes deal with ministers, and the amendment fell. The Joint Committee on Human Rights initially indicated that the bill may in any case be in contravention of the European Convention, but in the end failed to take meaningful action. In a further example of the inherent idiocy of the whole thing, government confirmed that Punch and Judy shows will require a special license on the grounds that they are a performance of a play. Perhaps ministers also still believe that Sooty is a real person. In a surprising concession -grossly inadequate, though nonetheless welcome so far as it goes- ministers eventually agreed that "Morris dancing and similar", and music played to accompany it, will be except from the requirement for a special licence. We do not yet know how local authorities will interpret this rather vague provision, but it is a start. Graham Dixon's Online Petition, together with the paper petition which also circulated, has now been submitted to Downing Street: a total of 110,000 signatures opposing this unwarranted attack on our basic right to make music and to dance (and to watch Punch and Judy shows, for that matter). The ministry reacted predictably, with a repeat of its familiar bland and meaningless reassurances. We shall now just have to see what the impact of this ill-framed and incompetently researched legislation turns out to be. Any instances of clubs, sessions or other events being forced to close as a direct result, or of apparent abuse of the law by local authorities, should be reported in detail to the MU or EFDSS.
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