Lib Dems vow to protect tourism
The Liberal Democrats published their election manifesto today, pledging to promote tourism, liberalise licensing laws and protect rural pubs.
The main points affecting the hospitality industry include:
Bringing together the marketing and infrastructure of government, local councils and tourist boards to promote tourism
Extending the 50% mandatory rate relief currently applied to village shops and post offices to sole village pubs
Replacing mandatory closing times for pubs with locally determined opening times
Giving local councils the power to decide Sunday opening hours rather than national government, but still guaranteeing extra pay for Sunday work and allowing for objection on religious or moral grounds
In issues affecting staff, the Liberal Democrats said they would:
Abolish the lower minimum wage paid to under-21s. The full rate will be paid to all over-16s
Ban compulsory retirement ages. Over-60s will have to be assessed annually on their ability to keep working
On food hygiene and safety they said they would:
Abolish the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Instead they will create a Ministry for Rural Affairs and food safety issues will be the responsibility of the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency
Stop commercial GM crop production until 2004 to allow for further research
Encourage organic farming
On a general business issues they also said they would seek an immediate entry in the Euro, subject to a referendum
Web links
