Michael Fabricant is asking the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to make some minor but important changes to the new pub licensing laws.

Michael explains: "The Government is right to say that if residents immediately adjacent to a pub complain about excessive noise and bad behaviour, local Councils will have the power to reduce the pub’s opening hours. But there is a far bigger problem. Many residents are disturbed by all-night revellers returning home from pubs late at night. Homes along the route have their occupants woken by shouts, front doors being hammered on and drunks being sick – or worse – in their gardens.

"Because it is impossible to identify the specific pub or bar that the revellers’ come from, Councils have no power to revoke the licence or reduce the drinking hours from those pubs even though the police are able to identify a group of pubs causing the nuisance. That is just one of the reasons why police chiefs are so uneasy about these new drinking laws.

"I will be asking the Home Secretary to amend the law so that general nuisance of this kind can be addressed by the council licensing authorities. There are many examples in Lichfield and Burntwood as well as the rest of the midlands where residents living some distance away from pubs have been disturbed by drunks on the way home".

Michael adds: "I used to believe that the abolition of licensing hours would be a great idea, but it has become increasingly clear that the drinking habits on the continent and café society are not emulated here. Binge drinking has become a real problem. I suspect that Tony Blair does not have to worry about it too much living in a gated area like Downing Street!"