Government yet to decide on beer tie intervention

The government has said it is too early to say whether it will intervene over the beer tie and that it is urging the industry to work together to sort out its issues.

Responding to a question at Parliament today, Department for Business Innovation and Skills minister Kevin Brennan said: "The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has made a decision on the super-complaint made by CAMRA about that issue.

"We are studying carefully the detail of the findings and are quite encouraged by some of the industry activity over the summer following the Business and Enterprise Committee's report on the matter.

"It is too early to decide whether the government should intervene, but we are encouraging parties to work closely together and to deliver on their commitments. We will be monitoring the situation closely."

The question was posed by Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Winterton who asked if the issue of the beer tie would be referred to the Competition Commission.

He said: "The beer tie is valuable and necessary in respect of small and family breweries, but damaging and unnecessary in respect of pub companies and larger breweries."