Happy hours and cheap alcohol should be banned, say MPsBy Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
10 Nov 2008
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.
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.
The report also criticised Whitehall-imposed targets for distorting police priorities, leading them to focus on "trivial misdemeanours" and meaning that forces across the country were "hitting their targets but missing the point".
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