Watered down... plan to curb drink adverts on children's TV

Draconian plans to curb teenage binge drinking by banning alcohol adverts on children's TV and near schools may be dumped by the Government amid fears the move will cripple advertisers and broadcasters.

Ministers are backing away from new laws in the belief that a voluntary code for supermarkets and brewers is the best way of tackling Britain's increasing alcohol problems. The Department of Health and the Home Office are set to publish their long-awaited independent review of the links between alcohol prices, promotions and the harm to health caused by alcohol abuse.

While there are likely to be some moves to ban billboards highlighting cut-price discounts - in line with curbs on tobacco advertising - more radical proposals are being watered down.

Public health experts and Labour MPs have been lobbying hard for a ban on all TV alcohol advertisements before 9pm, claiming that children are bombarded with seductive images that encourage drinking. But officials in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Whitehall department that oversees advertising, have warned that a crackdown could cost TV channels £100 million - they suffered a big drop in income after the ban on junk food commercials during children's TV.

A leaked DCMS memo seen by the Evening Standard strongly opposes a pre-watershed ban on alcohol advertising saying it is "completely speculative" that it would have any real impact on drinking. It adds that "under-18s probably watch post 9pm ads anyway".

Insiders say it would be far better to have an industry-wide agreement not to advertise near schools. Tesco has already indicated it will work with the Government on such an idea.