Jowell: Labour’s “stupid” message on 24-hour drinking
The Culture Secretary has condemned Labour’s bid to attract young voters with the promise of 24-hour drinking as “stupid.”
Tessa Jowell said text messages sent to first time voters in the 2001 general election campaign, urging them to back Labour because it would liberalise licensing laws, were “not the finest hour of Millbank’s marketing whizzes”.
The infamous slogan read: “Don’t give a XXXX for last orders? Vote Labour”.
Ms Jowell, writing in the Independent on Sunday in defence of new licensing laws which will permit around the clock drinking, said of the text message campaign: “I thought that was a stupid slogan at the time, and I still do.”
“It portrayed what is in fact a serious piece of legislation intended to improve quality of life and curb crime as some kind of advert for hedonism.”
“Not the finest hour of Millbank’s marketing whizzes.”
The Licensing Act 2003, which comes into force in November, will permit 24-hour drinking, despite fears that it could increase drunken rowdiness in towns and cities.
Defending the new legislation, Ms Jowell said: “What the new law does is allow people to drink alcohol in public at a different range of times, with the threat of instant sanction if they misbehave.”
“The truth is that it’s the status quo that’s the problem,” she added.
But Conservative family spokesperson Theresa May claims the new law will create “disorder”.
“Tessa Jowell is right to say the slogan was ‘stupid’. But it is also stupid to press ahead with licensing laws that will lead to more binge drinking and disorder,” she said.
The Association of Chief Police Officers and the Royal College of Physicians are urging the Government to delay the reforms, claiming that longer drinking hours could encourage irresponsible behaviour and binge drinking.
