Councillors and MPs are pressing the Prime Minister to scrap ‘aim to permit’ in a move that would sideline evidence-based regulation and allow local authorities to block any and every new gambling venue on Britain’s high streets.

Prohibitionist politicians across the country are piling pressure on the Prime Minister to scrap the ‘aim to permit’ rule in an attempt to block gambling businesses from Britain’s high streets.

More than 200 councillors and 46 MPs have signed a letter calling for the abolition of the rule, introduced under the 2005 Gambling Act, that requires licensing authorities to favour approval when considering applications for gambling premises. It exists to ensure that gambling businesses are regulated with an “evidence-based” approach by local authorities, rather than the prejudice-based approach that too many ill-informed councillors attempt – ultimately leading to appeals and overturned decisions that cost the taxpayer money.

In the wake of the latest review of gambling, the government pledged to strengthen local oversight by allowing councils to apply “cumulative impact assessments”, enabling them to take account of how many gambling venues already operate in a particular area. However, signatories of the letter to Keir Starmer say the measure does not go far enough.

“This call for change is not about banning the occasional bet,” the letter states. “It is about protecting our high streets.”

But that is disingenuous. Before 2005, maybe they had a case: operators had to prove unmet demand. Since then, however, regulation has tightened dramatically, with Britain’s regulator recognised internationally for the rigour of its oversight. 

Now the land-based industry is the most regulated in the world, answerable not just to the Commission, but local authorities, police authorities and the government too – a powerful collective that has placed the industry in a more vulnerable position to an overreach of powers; in this instance the threat to Aim to Permit from local councillors and campaigning MPs.

And given the febrile and prohibitionist  tone of the current debate, it does appear that we are in the realms of an overreach and a threat to high street gambling businesses from operating. 

Starmer should be clear about what is being proposed; scrapping ‘aim to permit’ will bypass the protections and allow local councillors to be judge, jury and executioner of the land-based sector. It is a question of regulation by evidence or by emotion – and for the lawyer in Number 10, the answer should be obvious.