Licensing Act 2003 (Victory in Europe Day Licensing Hours) Order 2025

Considered in Grand Committee

Moved by

That the Grand Committee do consider the Licensing Act 2003 (Victory in Europe Day Licensing Hours) Order 2025.

My Lords, this order was laid before Parliament on 23 April.

As noble Lords know, this Thursday, 8 May, marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. It is a momentous day in our history as it marks the end of the conflict in Europe—but not, obviously, the end of the Second World War, since conflict continued in Japan through to August. It was an occasion of national pride, relief and jubilation as peace returned, as well as a poignant moment given the losses inflicted by years of war.

I hope noble Lords will bear with me for saying that I have a precious photograph of my mother, aged 12, holding her younger sister on VE Day on a terraced street in Liverpool. They both have fantastic smiles on their faces because the conflict in which my grandfather was killed, in the Liverpool Blitz, had ended. My mother’s uncle was also killed—at sea when he was serving in the Navy. VE Day is a day of momentous pride, even today, for many people who did not serve in the war but have—or had—relatives who lived through it and who saw its results.

The 80th anniversary would always have been significant but, because the VE Day 75th anniversary commemorations were restricted due to the Covid pandemic in 2020, there is an added emphasis this year. Many people will want to come together with friends and family to mark this special anniversary and to raise a glass to the millions who fought and suffered in order to preserve the freedoms and way of life that we enjoy today. We owe them all an enormous debt. Time has passed—I was born 12 years after VE Day but it coloured my early life for the reasons I mentioned—but their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

This week will see a number of commemorative events being held, including but not limited to a military procession from Whitehall to Buckingham Palace, street parties across the country and a service at Westminster Abbey, which will serve as both an act of shared remembrance and a celebration of the end of the war in Europe. A concert will also take place at Horse Guards Parade to mark the end of commemorations on 8 May; indeed, the Parliament Choir will, I think, undertake a concert in this building tomorrow, on Wednesday evening. No doubt other events are planned; the order before the Committee today will allow people to celebrate for longer than they would normally be able to.

Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 allows the Secretary of State to make a licensing hours order to allow licensed premises to open for specified, extended hours on occasions of exceptional international, national or local significance. By way of background, past occasions when the then Home Secretary exercised this power include such events as: the King’s Coronation; Her late Majesty the Queen’s Diamond and Platinum Jubilee celebrations; the royal weddings in 2011 and 2018; and, most recently, the semi-final and final of the men’s UEFA European Championship last year. The Government consider the 80th anniversary of VE Day an occasion of national significance and, as such, worthy of this proposed extension.

As well as enabling celebrations, the extension will have added potential benefit to the hospitality sector, providing a welcome boost. I hope noble Lords will agree that this order represents an appropriate use of the powers conferred on the Home Secretary by the Licensing Act.

I grew up at a time when the shadow of the Second World War was still looming in our lives. I understood from a very young age how hard those years were for my parents’ and grandparents’ generations, and how much they had sacrificed in the fight to preserve the freedom, sovereignty and security that we still enjoy today. The numbers of those who served in the war are now sadly reducing, but there are many people still who lived through those tumultuous times. On Thursday, they will want to enjoy and respect the day completely. Our respect and reverence for them and the members of that great generation only grow. For all they did, we cherish and celebrate them and, for those so inclined on Thursday, the upcoming anniversary will be a chance to raise a glass to them. In that spirit, we have brought forward this order and I commend it to the Committee.

I thank the Minister for explaining the objectives of this statutory instrument. We are entirely supportive of what he said. It is appropriate that this SI is approved. I have very little to add, except to say that this is an event of major national significance. As a consequence of that, it is right to do what the Government are proposing.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his helpful and instructive introduction and wish well the aims of this order. Saturday’s great London parade ending at the palace was a magnificent event, helping towards national unity, pride and patriotism. I recall my father’s return from Burma with his star in November 1945—there were difficulties in getting a great army back home from far away as speedily as possible.

Our service men and women displayed and paraded on Saturday brilliantly alongside the flag-flying Ukrainian guests. Surely, after the parade, many of the huge crowds and millions watching on television sought to sink a pint or two. As an Army veteran and president of our RBL branch, I am certain that many pints will be sunk on 8 and 9 May. We can generate quite a thirst in Wales when the occasion arises. This surely shall be one. I have marched in many remembrance parades— at least some 45. In several, I marched with a then constituent who wore his medals of two world wars. He was a lovely man and he invited me into his home.

Strangely, some 60 years ago, Wales organised a referendum for or against Sunday opening—for Sundays were supposedly to be dry in Wales, presumably to encourage attendance at church, chapel and other places of worship. The referendum delivered a resounding “No” to opening, so tired, red-faced, ageing men with large stomachs took the Sunday bus that ran across the Wales-England border to quench their thirst in the then attractively wet England. Our local bus ran to Chester. We in Wales still have a lingering gift for whitewash and hypocrisy—but only skin deep, of course.

I recollect the Minister’s superb tenure and many years as Member of Parliament for Delyn. He was much admired as a vigorous and successful constituency man and a friendly and approachable Member of Parliament, just as he now is as a Minister in your Lordships’ House. We have shared a pint or two together over the years.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction. Like others, I rise with humility and respect as we mark the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe and, to come, victory over Japan. These are two defining moments in both our national story and the wider history of the free world. This anniversary offers a rare and precious opportunity, perhaps one of the last, for living veterans to share their memories first hand. It is a moment for us as a nation to come together across generations and communities to honour the service and sacrifice of all those who fought, served and contributed to the war effort.

In this, I hope that noble Lords will forgive me for including my late father, who joined the Royal Air Force on 4 September 1939, his 19th birthday. He was very fortunate to survive: he served on 43 operations in Bomber Command over enemy territory, the last of them in November 1944. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was, he thought, a very lucky survivor. He told me that he could not believe he was still alive at the end of the war. He always marched proudly with his medals in thanksgiving parades, and he never forgot those with whom he served.

Whether in mourning, reflection or celebration, coming together is a time-honoured tradition in Britain. It has long helped us to connect with one another and with our shared history. I therefore welcome the Government’s recognition of the central role that public houses and hospitality venues play in marking national moments such as these. The extension of licensing hours is a small but real gesture that will allow communities across the country to gather, reflect and raise a glass in tribute. Indeed, many of these same establishments were open on the very day that peace was declared. The London Museum hosts a wonderful collection of photographs from the 1945 celebrations. I encourage all noble Lords to visit its dedicated website and take a moment to reflect on those scenes of spontaneous joy and national unity.

I am grateful for the contributions of the three noble Lords who have spoken today. In particular, I thank my noble friend Lord Jones for reminding us both of the joy he would have had when his own father returned home from the war and the contribution this week of the Ukrainian forces, who are still fighting in Europe for the values that noble Lords have mentioned today.

As my noble friend Lord Jones knows, I am Lord Hanson of Flint and for many years he was the Member of Parliament for the constituency covering Flint; he mentioned the British Legion club, where we will, I am sure, see many beers sunk on Thursday as a result of this order. I am grateful for his very kind words about my service over 28 years in that town.

I am also very pleased to have the strong support of the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, for the order. It is good to see this cross-party support for the recognition. The noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, ably summed up the mood of this Committee: we have pride and gratitude for the service of people such as his father who served our country with bravery and humility. I am always aware of the fact that when my uncle was killed, he did not know that the war would one day be over and won; he did now know that there would be three more years of the conflict; he did not know that the people such as the fathers of my noble friend Lord Jones and the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, would come back.

Only now can we reflect on that dark period and on the service of those on the home front, in the Navy, the Air Force and the Army and in the Commonwealth—a point from the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, which I very strongly agree with—who all came together to defeat an evil. On 8 May 1945, that evil was defeated, and celebrations began. We can do no better on this 8 May than to allow this order to go through, allowing colleagues throughout the country to enjoy an extra couple of hours and have an extra couple of beers, glasses of wine or, dare I say, even soft drinks if they wish to do so. In doing so, we are giving the opportunity to toast the people who made this country what it is today by defeating fascism and all its evil in 1945.

Motion agreed.