A campaign to save a Tooting Bec pub from closure has been highlighted in a House of Commons debate on the future of Britain's public houses.

Labour MP and shadow pubs minister Toby Perkins mentioned the Save The Wheatsheaf campaign during his opening speech on a debate about protecting the country's struggling pub industry.

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan was among the politicians who voted in favour of introducing a new system to protect landlords from large pub companies introducing price hikes and increased rents.

He is also a supporter of the Save The Wheatsheaf campaign, which is trying to prevent the Upper Tooting Road pub from being turned into a supermarket or luxury flats.

Mr Khan MP said: “I was pleased to see the success of our Save The Wheatsheaf campaign was mentioned in the debate.

“In Tooting, many of our pubs are community hubs and are highly valued by local people.

“However due to lack of support from this government, they are closing at an ever-increasing rate.

“Each time a pub shuts the local economy by an average of £80,000, and costs us jobs, often for young people.

“We need to back our local pubs. That’s why I voted for a new code which would do just that, in Parliament.”