Plan to call time on 24-hour drinking

Plans to curb binge drinking by calling time on 24-hour pub licensing hours have been drawn up by Home Secretary Theresa May.

Proposals are afoot to limit the hours in which people can drink, amid fears that Labour's round-the-clock drinking policies have failed.

Today the initiative was welcomed by the chairman of Shropshire's strategic licensing committee who said the extra powers could give local councils the ability to control problems caused by alcohol.

Councillor Rosanna Taylor-Smith said: "I think we really need to see exactly what is proposed. If we are given more powers it might be helpful and this is certainly something that we will be discussing urgently with the officers.

"It's useful to have an array of measures that you can use to prevent problems from arising."

The new plans will be set out by the Home Secretary next week.

They are part of an overhaul of licensing that will assist local authorities who have been plagued by alcohol-related disorder.

Troubles

It follows an admission by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown that 24-hour drinking had not worked and had led to troubles on the UK's streets.

Local authorities currently have to deal with licences individually for every pub or club in their area.

But the Home Secretary now wants to change the rules.

Councils could be given new powers as early as next week to introduce a ban on drinking after midnight in entire streets or towns.

Round-the-clock drinking was introduced in 2005 and it was hoped it would create a sophisticated cafe culture with fewer people bingeing in the minutes leading up to final orders.

However, the plan failed and led to an increase in violence and alcohol abuse and the all-too familiar sight of late night streets full of often-young drunks.

The Association of Chief Police Officers and the Police Federation have both pressed for a tougher stance on binge drinking.

Officers claim that alcohol-fuelled violence is one of the nation's biggest problems. Statistics show that about one million violent crimes are committed each year in Britain with alcohol linked to half of the offences.

A Whitehall source said: "When these proposals are implemented, this will be the death knell for 24-hour drinking."