Monday 19 October 2009

Brown backtracks on new council powers

Alan Johnson has quietly dropped new powers for local councils to close down bars in areas blighted by binge-drinking two weeks after they were promised by Gordon Brown.

In his speech to the Labour Party conference Mr Brown said that the Government “will give local authorities the power to ban 24-hour drinking throughout a community”.

The Home Office confirmed yesterday, however, that it had given in to opposition from the drinks industry and ditched the so-called blanket banning orders.

Other proposed local council powers set to be dropped from the Policing and Crime Bill currently going through Parliament include the right to outlaw happy-hours, ban glass containers at peak hours and insist that only over-21s are served in particular premises.

See full article at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6878525.ece

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