Tesco was branded as hypocritical last night over its call for a ban on the sale of cheap alcohol, after figures showed that it has slashed at least three times more from the price of leading beers, wines and spirits than its rivals in the past year.

Research for The Times reveals that Britain’s biggest supermarket has cut an average of 10 per cent off the price of more than a dozen leading brands since February 2007.

Over the same period the prices of the same products at J Sainsbury have fallen by 2.8 per cent and Asda’s have risen by 1.3 per cent.

Despite urging Gordon Brown to introduce legislation to “ensure responsible pricing” yesterday, Tesco has reduced the price of a can of Carling lager to 54p and a 12-pack of Guinness by 30 per cent this week.

Critics rounded on the supermarket giant, accusing it of being more concerned with grabbing headlines than taking action.

Tesco’s call came after months of intense criticism of the supermarket sector for selling cut-price booze and failing to do enough to tackle underage and antisocial drinking. The resulting publicity is thought to have prompted the Morrisons chain to pull advertisements for discounts on beers and wines this weekend.

Julian Le Grande, chairman of Health England, said: “For Tesco to cut prices to this extent, particularly in a world where you have an increasing threat from alcohol and the trend of binge drinking, and at the same time calling for a ban on cheap alcohol – there is an element of hypocrisy in that. For years many supermarkets have been cutting their prices at the same time as often claiming complete innocence, that they’re just doing what the consumer wants.”

A spokesman for Alcohol Concern said: “It’s disappointing that the first major chain to acknowledge the contribution that loss-leading makes to alcohol harm is nevertheless the biggest discounter. Tesco got an awful lot of coverage for what they’ve said. These figures reinforce the need for robust government action if we are to see the end of deep discounting and all the harm that it can cause.”

The Department of Health refused to comment. It had issued a statement yesterday from Dawn Primarolo, the Public Health Minister, praising Tesco for its move to “share their concern about the impact of cheap alcohol on the health of the public”.

The Competition Commission revealed last autumn that all leading supermarkets, including Waitrose, regularly sell alcohol at below cost in an attempt to lure customers and boost sales.

Between January 2005 and the World Cup in the summer of 2006, Britain’s nine biggest grocers generated 3 per cent of their total revenue from below-cost selling of alcohol and other goods, such as canned vegetables.

Tesco is the first supermarket to break cover but said that it would not put its prices up unilaterally as its customers would simply shop elsewhere.

It called instead for a mandatory price rise instigated by the Government.

Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco chief executive, has already had a private meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss measures to tackle the rise in underage drinking.

One industry insider said that Tesco’s move was a way of placing the problem of cut-price alcohol back in the Government’s lap.

Another source said: “Tesco has been very cute. If anything it’s given them the perfect opportunity to show just how cheap their beer and wine is just ahead of the end of their financial year.”

Tesco said that the figures compiled for The Times “miss the point of our announcement”.

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco’s executive director for corporate and legal affairs, said: “We can’t put up our prices because people will simply shop elsewhere – it could be commercial suicide - and we can’t act together to put up prices because that would be against competition law. Supermarkets are not allowed to act together to put up prices because that would be bad for the consumer. The only safe solution is for the Government to initiate and lead these discussions and to bring forward legislative proposals which Tesco and others in our industry can support” she added.

Andy Bond, the chief executive of Asda, is due to announce his chain’s own measures to counter underage drinking on Monday. These are expected to include a move to increase the number of IDs checked at the tills.

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