A UK Home Office report has named the UK as Europe’s binge drinking capital.


The report today said the culture of binge drinking in the UK is costing the country over £20 billion a year.


Talking on national radio this morning, Home Office minister Hazel Blears said that along with a calculated cost of £7.2bn in terms of crime and disorder and £1.2bn in health issues, thousands of days of productivity were lost to drinking related illnesses.


The report will also point out concerns over the way the alcohol abuse of their parents is affecting hundreds of thousands of children, which added to a social cost in the billions of pounds as well.


On the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Blears said young people were asking for more education on alcohol. She added that education and prevention were going to be a big part of the policy.


The report proceeds the government’s own alcohol strategy, which is due within the next few months.

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The Home Office report comes only days after the government opposition Tory Party set up a working party of senior MPs to examine the problems of binge drinking.


The group will be chaired by Shadow Home Affairs Minister Julian Brazier, who said: “As well as being a major cause of crime, binge drinking is a severe drain on the health service. One in six cases handled by hospital casualty departments is alcohol-related.


“The government has been far too complacent about binge drinking. The fact that the problem now cuts across three departments – The Home Office, the Department of Health, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport – indicates a need for coherent, joined-up thinking.”