Secret meeting for binge-drinking crackdown

Prime Minister Gordon Brown held a secret meeting over the weekend to outline plans that would see binge drinking become as taboo as drink driving.

According to confidential minutes leaked to the Independent on Sunday the prime minister met with 27 doctors, campaigners, drinks company leaders and ministers to formulate a massive crackdown on problematic alcohol consumption.

Leaked proposals include bans on outdoor advertising within a certain distance of schools, as well as on drinks advertising on TV before the watershed, and parents of children caught drinking being subject to fixed penalty fines.

The documents also revealed that new measures could include enabling police to designate trouble hot spots as "alcohol disorder zones" and effectively force problem pubs and clubs to pay for policing for at least three months.

Other measures include banning the sale of alcohol at a loss along with higher taxes: a move already demanded by action group Alcohol Health Alliance.

The Government is currently reviewing the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 and a report due out next summer will look at ways of controlling the activities of drinks companies.

Read the full article in the Independent on Sunday here >>

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By Christopher Walton

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