Definitely a spring in the step of live music campaigner Hamish Birchall this afternoon. Hamish has fought an incredibly long and tenacious battle to remove the disproportionate, unnecessary and often contradictory powers to regulate live music given to Local Authorities by the draconian 2003 Licensing Act.

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Here’s his circular, just published:

Conservative Jeremy Hunt is the new Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, according to reliable sources.

Junior DCMS ministers will be confirmed tomorrow or Friday.

At the beginning of April Mr Hunt told The Publican magazine that the Licensing Act had been ‘a disaster’ for live music and that his party backed the campaign for an entertainment licensing exemption for venues up to 200 capacity:

The exemption is also a Lib Dem manifesto commitment (page 46) :

‘Cut red tape for putting on live music. We will reintroduce the rule allowing two performers of unamplified music in any licensed premises without the need for an entertainment licence, allow licensed venues for up to 200 people to host live music without the need for an entertainment licence, and remove the requirement for schools and hospitals to apply for a licence.’

Go Hamish!