UK pub curfew ‘could be pushed back to 11pm’ to save businesses

Ministers are said to be considering the Northern Ireland style plan.

Ministers are reportedly considering pushing the 10pm curfew back an hour and banning supermarkets from selling alcohol after 11pm. 

Boris Johnson today faced renewed calls to publish the scientific evidence behind the restriction on pubs, bars and restaurants at Prime Ministers Questions. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged him to review the rule if he will not publish the reasoning for it, ahead of a vote in Parliament next week. 

Now it has emerged that closing times for pubs in England could in fact be pushed back to 11pm, mirroring the rule in Northern Ireland, according to Huff Post. It comes as Scotland ‘effectively banning alcohol’ as part of dramatic new coronavirus curbs.

With a Tory rebellion brewing ahead of the vote on the controversial English curfew next week, Sir Keir said people are ‘screaming out’ to know the evidence behind the current rule, branding the lack of explanation for the Government’s restrictions ‘ridiculous’.

But ministers are said to privately think pubs and restaurants are being ‘crippled’ by the rule and believe there are no health benefits to it.

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Huff Post reported that officials have been ‘impressed’ by Northern Ireland’s regulations — which involves last orders at 10.30pm before an 11pm kicking out time — and the apparent lack of overcrowding or house parties after closing time.

In England, there has been incidents of pub goers gathering on the street after 10pm and going to shops to pick up more alcohol.

Northern Ireland has had different rules to other parts of the UK for some time, with a previous kicking out time of 1am before the pandemic struck. 

Wales also has a slightly different rule, with a 10pm last orders time allowing drinkers another 20 minutes to leave.

The PM is under increasing pressure to ditch the curfew for England, amid a warning that more than 500,000 jobs could be lost by Christmas in the hospitality industry. 

The website said that a rival plan backing an earlier curfew of 9pm is viewed by some in government as ‘ridiculous’. 

At PMQs earlier, Sir Keir said: ‘One question is now screaming out: is there a scientific basis for the 10pm rule?’

Mr Johnson replied: ‘The basis on which we set out the curtailment of hospitality was the basis on which he accepted it two weeks ago – that is to reduce the spread of the virus and that is our objective.’

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