24-hour drinking fails to halt disorder
Alan Travis and Nicholas Watt
The Guardian,Tuesday March 4 2008

· Antisocial behaviour still a problem, says Home Office

· Crackdown on shops and off-licences also unveiled

A fivefold increase in the maximum fine for antisocial drinking in public places and a battery of new sanctions on supermarkets and off-licences that sell alcohol to underage drinkers are to be announced by ministers today.

The package comes with the publication of the official Culture Department review of the impact of the changes in the licensing laws, which receive a verdict of "7/10 - good but could do better".

Ministers believe the relaxation in the opening hours has given the responsible majority greater freedom. But that has been matched by only a patchy improvement in the enforcement of the laws to curb underage drinking and antisocial behaviour.

A Home Office study of the impact of the licensing changes on crime and disorder also to be published today will confirm that later closing times have led to a spike in incidents of drink-related disorder which have been displaced to between 3am and 6am. Ministers hope the new measures will tackle this problem.

But there will not be any announcements today of action to legislate over cheap supermarket alcohol promotions, which have led to police complaints that lager is sold cheaper than bottled water.

Instead ministers will make clear that the industry will be expected to stop such irresponsible promotions. An internal government review under way into possible links between pricing promotions and crime and disorder is not due to report until June. It may well lead to changes the licensing laws and competition laws later in the year if self-regulation proves to fail one last time.
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