Brown clampdown on underage drinkers

The government is to implement a 'two strikes and you're out' strategy to combat under-18s purchasing alcohol from shopkeepers.

The prime minister has vowed to take a tougher stance against shops, supermarkets and off-licences which flout the law by stripping them of their licences should they be caught selling alcohol to minors on two occasions.

Gordon Brown has also put a clampdown on cut-price alcohol deals on the agenda as he seeks to tackle binge drinking culture.

Talking to Monday's Mirror newspaper, he explained: "We have to tighten up the penalties.

"Any shop that is selling to under-18s twice in three months should lose its licence. At the moment it is three sales in three months but we have to go further."

He added: "Binge drinking is not acceptable in any society. People are worried about the effects of it, and the effect on young people in particular."

Along with the stricter attitude towards the selling of alcohol to under-18s will be an advertising campaign aimed at promoting responsible drinking.

These measures will be included within the review of the Licensing Act, which is to be published on Tuesday.

Brown's comments came amid criticism of the government's 24-hour licencing by the Local Government Association (LGA), which denounced drinking laws as failing "miserably".

Speaking to the Telegraph, LGA chairman Sir Simon Milton said that 24-hour drinking had not put a stop to violent behaviour, as it was intended to do at closing time, but had merely pushed it "later into the night".

He went on to say that some city centres had become no-go areas: "[The typical city centre] is a place for younger people who will act in a manner which ranges from boisterous to outright violent. It's a place to avoid for anyone who doesn't fit into that category."

And Sir Simon called for the government to increase the fees that are paid by pubs, clubs, off licences and supermarkets in order for them stay open later.