Government 'foolish' to press ahead with 24 Hour Drinking

1.00.00pm GMT Wed 16th Nov 2005

Andrew Simpson, Parliamentary campaigner for Northampton North constituency, has called for the Government to delay the introduction of new licensing laws that could allow for 24 hours drinking in Northampton.

'It is foolish to be introducing 24 hour drinking when the problem of binge drinking has yet to be tackled" said Andrew. "The Government claims that the new laws will tackle binge drinking yet give no evidence or proof as to how this will be the case - instead we get 'knee-jerk' responses like proposals to ban alcohol on public transport. The existing laws need to be enforced first before further relaxation in the licencing laws take place".

Under existing laws landlords can be prosecuted for serving customers who are drunk yet figures obtained by the Lib Dems showed on average only 11 cases a year are brought to court.

"In the long term I am in favour of a more Continental approach to licensing" said Andrew " But in the short term we need to tackle the current problems - allowing 24 hour drinking is adding fuel to the fire. The proposals should be put on hold".