Smith outlines measures to cut under-age drinking

7 Feb 08
Police could be given extended powers to confiscate alcohol from under-18s in a crackdown on under-age drinking, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced.

08 February 2008

Police could be given extended powers to confiscate alcohol from under-18s in a crackdown on under-age drinking, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced.

Police officers can already take alcohol from children and young people in public places if they are suspected of a crime or disorderly behaviour. However, in a speech to police and local authority licensing officers on February 6, Smith said: 'Police must have all the powers they need to make groups of young people drinking in public a thing of the past.'

The Home Office has also launched an £875,000 crackdown on under-age drinking during half term, and Smith called on parents to 'play their part' to stop their children drinking. She warned retailers that they would be punished for selling alcohol to under-18s.

Director of Alcohol Concern Srabani Sen warned that 'too many companies put the interests of profit above the need to do everything possible to minimise the potentially damaging effects of drinking too much'.

However, Conservative shadow home affairs minister James Brokenshire accused the government of being 'intoxicated by the need for a headline rather than a sober analysis of the problems'.

PFfeb2008

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