Action is needed now Liz

The one thing we can only hope for is that the new Prime Minister is quick to act on the escalating energy crisis.

We don’t have time to wait for the new administration to get its feet under the desk, or “up to speed” on the issues - this crisis is hardly new news and has been blithely ignored by the outgoing PM who would rather spend his last few remaining days in office taking some time off and generally messing about (maybe even a spot of redecorating).

We at the MA are hearing from desperate operators daily, people being quoted increases to bills of triple, quadruple and more - people who are essentially facing failure and closure.

Pubs are already starting to close, at the moment it’s a trickle as those taking a look over the cliff edge decide they’d rather get out now than plunge over the edge, but that’s going to quickly turn into a torrent if nothing is done.

So I’d like to join the chorus of voices calling on Liz Truss to act quickly and come up with some mechanism or help or support to nip this crisis in the bud. We can’t wait any longer, we need to start hearing about solutions now, not tomorrow.

There's a lot of talk of helping consumers, but very little focus on the challenges facing business. If those consumer don't have jobs, the problem is going to get far worse, so let's bring businesses into that embrace as well

The longer the situation is allowed to drift, the closer businesses will come to closure, and if we allow that to happen, we’ll be facing massive unemployment, huge damage to the economy, both locally and nationally, appalling impacts on communities that rely on the social networks of pubs, and the irreplaceable loss of an important part of our culture and heritage.

The situation is desperate, and I apologise for being grim - daily stories on how terrible things are are not what my team and I want to write, but the reality is, we’re facing a situation far more damaging and dangerous to the industry than the pandemic and we need leadership and action from the Government now.