MPs have called for retailers to bring an end to the UK’s “pile it high, sell it cheap” drinking culture.

‘Happy hour’ drink promotions should be banned and supermarkets stopped from selling alcohol at a loss in a bid to halt alcohol-fuelled violence, according to a group of MPs.

The Commons Home Affairs Committee has blamed freely available cheap alcohol for the widespread disorder on UK streets at weekends.

The violence is placing a heavy burden on police resources as the majority of law enforcers’ time is spent supervising drunk and disorderly people, the Committee said.

According to the report, alcohol is 80% more affordable now than it was in 1980, whilst almost half of victims of violent crime report that their assailant was under the influence of drink.

Labour MP, Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Committee, has called for retailers to bring an end to the UK’s “pile it high, sell it cheap” drinking culture.

He told BBC Radio 4: “We cannot have, on one hand, a world of alcohol promotions for profit that fuels surges of crime and disorder and, on the other, the police diverting all their resources to cope with it.

“At the moment you have a situation where so much of police time is taken up dealing with alcohol related crime. Happy hours lead to unhappy communities. Loss leaders in supermarkets cause real misery to city centres on a Saturday night.”

The Committee has called for the Government to implement a legal basis for loss-leading in supermarkets, as well as setting a minimum price for the sale of alcohol.

This would create a similar culture to Canada where most provinces set minimum price levels for bars and retailers, it said.

To read the Commons Home Affairs Committee report in full, visit: www.parliament.uk

By Natasha Piscitelli