Judges have ruled the substantial meal restriction imposed on wet led pubs during England’s Tiered Lockdown system was arguably discriminatory towards certain sections of society, forcing the Government to u-turn on the restriction in their latest roadmap announcement.
Sacha Lord, Greater Manchester’s Night time economy advisor, who brought the case, has released the following statement,
“This is a landmark victory for the hospitality industry. We are pleased with this judgement and that the court case compelled the Government to remove the substantial meal requirement in their recent roadmap.
We have continually stated that this measure actively discriminates against and unfairly impacts the poorest and most disadvantaged sectors of our society and was lacking in scientific evidence to support it.
We will continue to work with those most affected across the night time economy and hospitality sectors to ensure all measures imposed on the industries going forward are fair, not only to the operators and businesses struggling to survive, but to the general public.
My legal team and I are already in discussions regarding the lack of evidence to justify the delay of the reopening of indoor hospitality compared with non-essential retail and this is an area we will be updating on in the days to come.”
Oliver Wright, a partner at law firm JMW Solicitors who represented Sacha Lord, said, “This case highlighted the lack of real scientific evidence to support the Government’s policy, and their failure to understand its discriminatory effects on non-White and BAME communities.”
