UK government defends new drinking laws

LONDON - A government minister defended plans to relax drinking laws in England and Wales after judges warned violent assaults would rise.

Licensing minister James Purnell told the BBC the plans to extend drinking hours would stagger the time people left pubs, reducing binge-drinking and violent crime which has become a major problem on British city centre streets late at night.

"What we're trying to put in place is a much tougher set of powers to deal with the minority who do cause problems," Purnell said.

But in a submission by judges to the Home Office, Judge Charles Harris warned the new drinking laws would make an already serious problem worse.

"The situation is already grave, if not grotesque, and to facilitate this by making drinking facilities more widely available is close to lunacy," Harris was quoted in the Times newspaper as telling the Home Office.

From November pubs will be able to stay open after 11 pm, with some potentially open for drinking 24 hours a day, raising concerns by police and now judges that more drinking will mean more violence and disorder.

The government hopes it will reduce late-night trouble around bars by varying closing times to introduce a more "continental"-style drinking culture.

But in response to a Home Office consultation paper "Drinking Responsibly" judges said the licensing changes would lead to an escalation of violence.

"Those who routinely see the consequences of drink-fuelled violence in offences of rape, grievous bodily harm and worse on a daily basis are in no doubt that an escalation of offences of this nature will inevitably be caused by the relaxation of liquor licensing which the government has now authorised," the judges said.

Harris said it was rare for any of the cases of violence he dealt with to have been committed by someone who had not been drinking.

"Their sole idea of fun is to get as drunk as possible in bars where this can be done as easily as possible," Harris wrote.

"We should express a very high level of concern indeed, and suggest that what is needed, as a start, is a lot less provision of drinking facilities, not more," Harris concluded.

The judges' concerns were echoed by police chiefs.

"One has only to look to popular holiday destinations to see the effect of allowing British youth unrestricted access to alcohol," the Association of Chief Police Officers said.

Opposition Conservative leader Michael Howard said he agreed with the judges' criticism of the government's Licensing Act.

"We've been warning about this for some time. I think the judges are absolutely right and we have said that this act should not be brought into effect until binge drinking has been brought under control," Howard told BBC radio.

- REUTERS