Landlord hits out at Labour's 'bizarre' road safety crackdown in latest blow to Britain's pubs: 'It's impossible to run them!'

In a latest blow to the hospitality industry, Labour ministers today confirmed plans to reduce the drink-drive limit in England and Wales.

The changes have sparked further despair among landlords as the reduction could now limit drinkers to just one alcoholic beverage.

Delivering his verdict, Mr Richardson told GB News: "My stance on drink driving is that I think a zero tolerance is not a bad thing, if I'm perfectly honest.

"But my comment really is it's just another scaremongering tactic that the Government switched on to try and stop people coming out altogether."

Questioned by host Ellie Costello on whether he agrees that the move is a "death knell" for British pubs, he added: "I think the term 'the death knell' is not probably right in this instance, that's been sounding for quite some time now.

"The general effect, with the duties, the VAT, the whole package that this and previous Governments put together, I think they've collectively just built up the emphasis of getting rid of pubs altogether, if I'm perfectly honest with you."

Mr Richardson highlighted how difficult it is already to run a pub in today's economic climate, telling GB News: "It's difficult to the point it's becoming pretty much impossible now. I'm a free house and so therefore my buying is a little bit better than people that are tied into pubs.

"We've got three pubs, fairly large pubs, fairly close to us in the villages, and the next one closes on January 18, and they're relatively successful businesses in terms of income.

"It's hard to make any sort of money at all in pubs. It's very, very, very, very easy to lose a lot of money in pubs, that's for sure."

Asked whether pub owners need to become "the new farmers" and start protesting in demand of a Labour U-turn, Mr Richardson said: "I would love to think that the pubs and the landlords and landlady could be the new farmers for sure.

"I think it's probably more effective if absolutely everybody that's affected starts sort of raising a voice. Not just pubs, not just hospitality.

"You've got retail, high street, so many people are getting so impacted by these bizarre decisions almost.

"It seems like sort of these goons in the gallery just seem to be going out with a different one every single time."

Defending the plans, Local Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood told GB News that the move is all about "saving lives" and making better decisions when it comes to drinking and driving.

She told the People's Channel: "We are out of step in England and Wales. The drink drive limit that we have was set in 1967, it hasn't changed since then, whilst in in Scotland it was reduced in 2014 to 50mg per 100ml of blood. That's the level it is everywhere across Europe, I think, with the exception of Malta.

"That's why we're proposing to take this action. Nobody wants to stop people from going out to the pub, I enjoy going out to the pub, but what we are saying to people is if you're going out for a drink, leave the car at home."

She continued: "One of the things that we've seen that's changed in pubs in recent years is the proliferation in the number of low alcohol, zero alcohol products, many of our favourite brands now available in zero alcohol.

"So if you're going out for a drink, leave the car at home. If you're going out with a group of mates, agree that one of you is going to be the designated driver. This is about saving lives.

"There were 260 people killed by drunk drivers last year. Every single one of those deaths is preventable, and I think about the families absolutely torn apart when a member of their family has been killed by a drunk driver. I've sat down with many of them over the last 18 months, and it demands action."