Coulson: Peers playing it long in Bill talks

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill is at Report Stage in the House of Lords, where the peers are currently locked in debate over the appointment of police commissioners. They have not yet reached the licensing reform sections but, rather like Wimbledon players in the second week, if you've played a tough five-set match against one opponent, you often keel over in the next encounter.

So it may be with licensing. There are still major issues to be debated, but I do not get the impression that many peers are up for the fight.

In truth, there seems to be a good deal of unanimity among the main parties, and only a couple of Liberal Democrats are making any waves on behalf of the licensed sector.

But outside the House, there is still a huge debate about the correctness of the agenda being proposed, and that clamour does appear to be getting louder.

Perhaps fortunately, there is likely to be a gap in proceedings. It does not seem likely that the Bill will make enormous progress before the summer recess, so it will be autumn before we reach the key determining stages. If that is the case, we might see even more arguments adduced as to why the plans enshrined in this 'rebalancing' are unnecessary and counter-productive.

There is now some puzzlement among those involved in licensing as to who came up with these ideas in the first place. Some of the usual suspects appear to have been eliminated. Even some leading councils who might have been expected to support the tougher measures have declared that they do not see so much merit in them. Suspicion is increasingly falling on certain hawks at the Home Office who made the initial far-reaching, and some might say outlandish, proposals to lock down the industry, only backing off when they were challenged on the legality of what they had suggested, and the one-sidedness of their approach.

The 'revised' Bill is still a step too far, but the ridiculous constraints on temporary event notices have been reversed, the appeals process has been retained and there may be some tempering of the late-night levy (although that is a poisoned chalice for both sides).

What is now needed — although we are into the fifth set and a break down — is a concerted effort to change the course of the match.

It will not be easy, but it is worth the effort.