Labour confirms free-of-tie commitment

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/ViewArticle?R=86642

You sound more and more like a Libertarian David. Society has to be managed somehow and government, imperfect though it is, is what we've got to do that. Governments have always got this trade woefully wrong because governments have been given no really cogent information about what really goes on in the pub trade. The appointment of a Minister for Pubs is a nod in the right direction which shows that politicians are at least beginning understanding this gap in government understanding.

What has been killing off this trade is an unfettered market dominated by unscrupulous powerful pubcos being free to play Monopoly across the board and apply scandalously high supply prices to tied properties which are often massively over valued and over rented. No government forced that on anyone except by perennial omission to regulate.

And when it comes to the paternalistic tie as plied by honourable old fashioned family brewers, I'd like to know how much 'Sheps' charges for its third party supplies David. Do they act as a wholesaler or does the benevolent family add a hefty premium along their supply chain for chucking another brewer's wares on the back of the dray?