Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Brokenshire has uncovered figures showing the number of alcohol-related admissions through A&E departments across England, since the introduction of Labour’s licensing laws.
The figures highlight the strain on hospital staff - some hospital trusts have seen a doubling of admissions in just three years.
At the same time it has been uncovered that powers intended to deal with underage sales of alcohol haven’t been used for two years. The Home Office has revealed that no prosecutions were brought against licensees for persistently selling alcohol to underage young people in the last two years for which data are available.
Brokenshire said the reality of Labour's failed policies on alcohol has been "communities blighted by drunken and loutish behaviour".
"The police are being stretched in the early hours of the morning by violent incidents and doctors and nurses in casualty departments are being left to deal with the health consequences of excessive drinking".
To deal with the problem, he said the Conservatives "would strengthen licensing enforcement, ban below cost sales of alcohol and use targeted taxes on those products most closely linked to binge boozing.”