A pub company boss-turned-MP, who has experience of running tied pubs, has been appointed to the new-look committee that is scrutinising pubco reform.
Simon Kirby, co-founder of Brighton-based C-Side, is among the six new MPs on the Business, Innovation & Skills Committee (BISC). New MPs have been appointed after former members were given jobs in the shadow cabinet.
Conservative MP Kirby, elected in May to represent Brighton Kemptown, sold C-Side with business partner Martin Webb when it had 28 pubs and bars for £14m in 2001.
The estate was a mixture of free-of-tie pubs and tied sites, and during his time with C-Side, the company held leases with major pubcos including Enterprise Inns.
Kirby told the Morning Advertiser in June that as an MP, he'd be adding his "small voice" to encourage the Government to stick to the June 2011 deadline for pubcos to comply with the demands of the BISC Report.
"The tie is often the difference between making a profit and making a loss," Kirby said.
"I always preferred free-of-tie sites. There was a big financial advantage in being free of tie.
"No one would support getting rid of the tie, but trading conditions have changed. Plus, we've had the smoking ban and increasing competition from off-sales.
"The pubcos have probably taken too much out of the industry and it's meant pub tenants have become less profitable.
"There's a balance to be struck, and I'd be nearer the side of the tenant in these difficult times. The flexible approach that the pubcos now seem to be taking makes sense."
Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers head of communications Kate Nicholls welcomed Kirby's appointment.
"It's very good news he is on the Committee as he has good understanding of the industry and how it operates."
BISC is expected to hold hearings with pubco bosses, anti-tie campaigners and other key figures early next year, before drafting a report to the Government for it to respond before the June 2011 deadline for industry reform.