James Wilmore: Please give us a break Mr Penrose!

Surely we can't have another government fudge on our hands?

Hot on the heals of the below-cost ban debacle, the noises the coalition is now making around live music reform are far from encouraging.

Last week DCMS minister John Penrose talked of the "real risks" that live music poses - such as health and safety and public order.

So Penrose has now gone from talking of a "radical" fix on music licensing to highlighting the problems he now sees with relaxing the laws.

The Publican​, through our Listen Up! initiative, have been campaigning for a year-and-a-half on this issue - and it seems ridiculous the government is still stalling.

Of course, the coalition has to do something to make it look like it is cutting the red tape on this issue. After all, it is a commitment in the Tory/Lib Dem agreement.

But its record so far is not promising. The below-cost proposal - to ban alcohol sales below the level of duty plus VAT - has been rightly described as a "box-ticking" exercise.

David Cameron has often been accused of being just a PR man - as he was in a past life - with his fluffy ideas and promises.

But the government now has a real chance to make a difference - by allowing pubs with a capacity of up to 200 to host a gig without facing a mountain of red tape, or having to jump through hoops for their local authority.

And if there's problems, such as noise or disorder, there's already the laws to deal with them.

Please give us something to smile about Mr Penrose…