David Cameron to tackle UK's binge drinking 'scandal'

Prime minister David Cameron has called for a crackdown on binge drinking which costs the NHS £2.7 billion per year.

On a visit to a hospital in north-east England he will call for an increase in tax and the minimum price of alcoholic drinks. He also plans to implement US style 'drunk tanks', which provide a place to sober up for people incapable of getting home.

But Sergeant Gary Watts of Devon and Cornwall Police in Falmouth says that with current staffing levels, many of Mr Cameron's ideas would be impossible to implement.

Mr Cameron will also state that the wider cost of binge drinking on society is between £17 and £22 billion a year.

Last year the number of patients admitted to hospital with primary alcohol related illnesses was 200,000, an increase of more than 40% since 2003.