Tories 'would raise drink prices'

Image source, bbc

Image caption, The Tories say under their plans responsible drinkers won't be affected
  • Author, Dave Howard
  • Role, Newsbeat politics reporter in Manchester

City centres are battle zones and teenagers get drunk quickly and cheaply.

That's the problem according to the Tories and they say raising drink prices could fix it.

They're promising to raise taxes on alcohol and ban supermarket drink promotions if they win the next election.

Under their plans, expect to pay around 拢1.30 extra on a four pack of super-strength beer and 拢1.50 more on a large bottle of alco-pop.

Their 91热爆 Affairs spokesman Chris Grayling says these are "not changes that will affect responsible drinkers, not changes that will affect the ordinary pint in the pub. But we'll call time on the drinks that fuel anti-social behaviour".

It's just one of the changes that party bosses say could fix so-called "Broken Britain". Similar changes are already underway in Scotland.

They're setting out a number of other ideas on Wednesday too, like changing the law so police can tell people what dangerous criminals live in their neighbourhood.

Under Labour, they say criminals' rights have come to be seen as more important than the safety of ordinary people.

But the government says a lot of the Tories' ideas are "confused" and "hastily cobbled together" to grab headlines.

Critics also say there's no need to change the law on identifying criminals - because the police have all the powers they need anyway.