Ban Happy Hours and cheap booze!
Happy hours and cheap alcohol should be banned, say MPs
Happy hour drink promotions should be banned and supermarkets prevented from selling cheap alcohol at a loss to curb the binge-drinking violence blighting Britain, MPs have said.
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
A damning Home Affairs Select Committee report said that alcohol-related disorder was placing a "heavy burden" on police and diverting officers from fighting serious crime.
Police chiefs blame the Government's decision to relax licensing laws, drinks promotions in pubs and clubs, and the cheap availability of alcohol in supermarkets and off licences, it said.
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Opposition leaders said that the findings exposed the Government's "reckless" approach to 24-hour drinking laws and a top down target-driven agenda that has proved "an expensive disaster".
The report, "Policing in the 21st century", unveiled the strain that alcohol-related violence had put on police resources.
In Devon and Cornwall, Chief Constable Stephen Otter said there has been a "fairly significant increase in the proportion of violent crime where we can be absolutely sure there is an alcohol-related aspect" in the past four years.
The committee called for a ban on selling alcohol as a loss leader and the setting of a minimum price for all drinks.
Chairman Keith Vaz said: "We cannot have on one hand a world of alcohol promotions for profit that fuels surges of crime and disorder, and on the other the police diverting all their resources to cope with it."
The report cited research that found 45 per cent of victims of violence described their assailant as being under the influence of alcohol.
There has also been an increase in trouble in suburban areas, because people are drinking locally at weekends, where pubs now stay open later, rather than paying the cab fare and entry fees of pubs in town centres.
Meanwhile research showed that the real price of alcohol has fallen dramatically in the past 30 years and urged ministers to clamp down on irresponsible bars and pubs.
The cheap availability of alcohol in supermarkets and off licences is "fuelling alcohol-related crime and disorder and under-age drinking", the report said.
"There is certainly a strong perception amongst police forces that alcohol-related violence is on the increase. What is clear is that forces now deploy resources to deal with alcohol-related crime and disorder for longer periods of time, as a result of longer opening hours, and in larger areas, as late-night drinking is no longer confined to city centres."
The report also revealed that the British Beer and Pub Association had attempted to curb drinks promotions but the policy was scrapped because lawyers said it breached European competition laws.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: "This is a shocking indictment of Labour's reckless approach to extended licensing and top down target driven approach which has resulted in perverse outcomes."
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3411958/Happy-hours-and-cheap-alcohol-should-be-banned-say-MPs.html
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Hell, yes! "We cannot have .... alcohol promotions for profit " can we, Mr Vaz? What a filthy, stinking thing profit is! Stamp it out!!
But what are they saying? The minority of drunken yobs should be allowed to dictate the price the law-abiding majority pay for their quantum of solace in Labour's Paradise society?
It is "joined-up-gummint" again. Let's have the pubs open all hours, express disgust that people choose to use them, and then have a "crack-down" on drinking.
Meanwhile, the chorus "more powers, more powers" goes up from every police HQ in the land.
Ah well. So it goes.
:roll:
