A licence for disorder and dangerous drinking23/07/2008
Attempting to locate even a trace of logic or consistency in the Government's approach to alcohol abuse is a near-impossible task.
Here is an administration that enacted round-the-clock pub opening and liberalised the sale of alcohol from retail outlets, and then seems surprised that our streets and public places are frequently awash with inebriates.
In the 2003 Licensing Act, the Government severed the link between pubs and the criminal justice system by transferring licensing powers from magistrates to councils, and now wonders why public houses do not keep better order.
It allows perfectly good legislative curbs on alcohol abuse to lie barely used on the statute book, and then wrings its hands over why our hospitals are struggling to cope with the hordes damaged by excessive drinking.
Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, disingenuously blamed the drink industry yesterday for not doing more to encourage "responsible drinking". That's a little like blaming the car industry for not encouraging motorists to drive less. It's not really its job.
The Government, of course, could change the nation's drinking habits at a stroke by trebling the price of alcohol through higher excise duties (the strategy it uses to discourage smoking). It will not attempt such a politically suicidal strategy, nor should it.
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