{"id":283633,"date":"2025-07-22T22:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/283633\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T22:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:36:12","slug":"max-thompson-the-banter-ban-marks-the-death-of-the-great-british-pub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/283633\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Thompson: The banter ban marks the death of the Great British pub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Thompson is legislative affairs and campaigns officer for the Free Speech Union.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Angela Rayner\u2019s Employment Rights Bill has rung the bell and it is kicking out time. This week (il)Liberal Democrat peers voted with Labour to put a banter bouncer in every pub from October 2026.<\/p>\n

Clause 20 of the Employment Rights Bill is an all out assault \u2013 cultural, economic and social. A solution in search of a problem.<\/p>\n

The Banter Ban will extend employers\u2019 liability for non-sexual harassment to third parties. In plain speak, employers\u2019 will have to take \u201call reasonable steps\u201d to protect their employees from the private conversations of customers.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, an employee will be able to sue their employer even if they do not possess the protected characteristic. They can be offended on behalf of another colleague.<\/p>\n

While landlords face soaring bills and increased taxes, they will now have to take \u201call reasonable steps\u201d to prevent their staff from being offended by the words of punters having a private conversation.<\/p>\n

Guidance is set to be offered on what constitutes \u201call reasonable steps\u201d at a later date regarding third-party sexual harassment. There is a lack of clarity of when, or if, this will be extended to the realm of non-sexual third-party harassment. Businesses will be forced to interpret what \u201call reasonable\u201d steps are and seek expensive legal advice and implement policies to avoid litigation.<\/p>\n

Expect a banter bouncer in every beer garden, a code of conduct on every wall of every pub, and don\u2019t forget proof of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training before heading out for a pint.<\/p>\n

The result is the death of the Great British pub.<\/p>\n

People will understandably decide to spend an evening in the confines of their own home (if they can afford one) where they can say what they so wish\u2026for now.<\/p>\n

It begs the question: is there any British institution that this Government isn\u2019t seeking to destroy?<\/p>\n

George Orwell called the pub \u201cthe heart of England\u201d. Well, Labour\u2019s Employment Rights Bill is the stake poised to be driven straight through that heart. Pubs and free speech are fundamentally British. I challenge you to find something more quintessentially British than a trip to your local for a beer and chat.<\/p>\n

There are vanishingly few.<\/p>\n

The Free Speech Union launched their \u201cSay No To The Banter Ban\u201d campaign with a boozy affair at the Speaker Pub, Westminster. Since, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, Lord Young of Acton, has been leading efforts in the House of Lords to stand up for pubs and our right to banter. At each stage his amendments have been thwarted by the fun police. This is despite the EHRC fearing that Clause 20 will \u201cdisproportionately curtail\u201d freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

One amendment would have excluded landlords of being made liable for \u2018indirect harassment\u2019 in their establishments. This amendment was supported by UK Hospitality, HM Opposition and Baroness Cash, a commissioner of the EHRC. Another amendment would have excluded expressions of a political, moral, religious or social opinion unless they were \u201cgrossly offensive\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Banter Ban is yet another example of the accelerated erosion of free speech in this country. It comes to something when the Vice President of Britain\u2019s closest ally questions the Government\u2019s commitment to the principle of free speech on the world stage. Keir Starmer should hang his head in shame.<\/p>\n

Britain \u2013 a nation of mickey takers \u2013 is fast becoming a breeding ground for those who relish the opportunity to be offended. An age of hyper-sensitivity. Thanks to Angela Rayner\u2019s Bill, they will make a quick buck out of it as well at the Employment Tribunal.<\/p>\n

Employment Tribunal Courts are buckling at the seams. In March 2025, the backlog reached a record 52,000 cases and this Bill\u2019s impact assessment estimates the number of cases will increase by 15 per cent annually. Undoubtedly, those who face serious workplace harassment will be delayed justice in favour of those who just have opposing views on migration to an employee.<\/p>\n

The economy is in a death spiral and businesses are crying out for certainty and stability. The British Beer and Pub Association has claimed a pub a day is closing. UK Hospitality have stated that the impact of Reeves\u2019s disastrous budget has increased costs by \u00a33.4 billion. The Employment Rights Bill is expected to cost businesses \u00a35 billion with smaller businesses feeling it most acutely.<\/p>\n

If COVID, the energy crisis and Labour\u2019s budget weren\u2019t enough to kill off\u00a0 pubs, the \u2018Banter Ban\u2019 could be the final nail in the coffin. The Chancellor promised to revive the pub sector while pouring a pint at the Humble Plumb last year. Now, her future leadership rival is calling time on them.<\/p>\n

If there was ever a point in our history when we needed a drink and a laugh it is now. God knows, the Chancellor has recently looked like she is in desperate need of one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Thompson is legislative affairs and campaigns officer for the Free Speech Union. Angela Rayner\u2019s Employment Rights Bill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[106353,748,12189,393,43339,106354,4884,1889,1620,106355,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-283633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-angela-rayner-mp","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-chancellor","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-free-speech","13":"tag-free-speech-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-pubs","16":"tag-sheffield","17":"tag-toby-young","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114899281024570884","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}