Tougher powers to tackle teenage drinking

I know that anti-social behaviour can be a real problem for some people in Edmonton and this is often caused by teenage drinking. It's easy to feel powerless when trying to deal with it. As your MP I will always do what I can to help people feel safe in their homes and communities.

So I was really pleased to hear this week that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith MP outlined tougher police powers and called for parents and the drinks industry to play their part in preventing young people drinking in public. The Police should be given all the powers they need to make groups of young people drinking in public a thing of the past. A new campaign to confiscate alcohol from underage drinkers begins this month . At the same time we will continue to punish those few irresponsible retailers that flout the law by persistently selling to children.

Of course, as adults, many of us enjoy a drink. The vast majority of us do so without hurting ourselves or others and without disrupting the people and communities around us. I believe the Government must now lead the way in tacking drink-related anti-social behaviour in our society. But in order to do this they also need the support of industry, enforcement authorities and communities. Everyone needs to meet their responsibilities to make a difference. And parents must play their part too. We will give parents whose children are drinking the support they need to change their damaging behaviour.

There is a lot of good work being done to tackle the damage that alcohol misuse can do to individuals, to the people around them, and to the communities they live in. But I want to us go further, so I fully support what the Home Secretary has announced.