Senior police officers and charities have today backed judges who warned the Government that relaxing drinking laws this year could lead to a huge increase in rapes and violent crime.

A paper from the Council of Her Majesty’s Circuit Judges released yesterday told the Home Office to expect an increase in "offences of rape, grievous bodily harm and worse" when the new Licensing Act, which allows pubs and nightclubs to stay open longer, comes into effect on November 24.

Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Cheshire Police, said today that his force had been severely stretched by alcohol-related violence and disorder in recent years and that extended drinking hours would only aggravate the problem.

"Over recent years we've seen such an increase in the influence of the abuse of alcohol on all forms of violent crime and on the level of disorder that are out there in the streets," Mr Fahy told BBC Radio 4.

"We've seen nothing really in the changes in the law that we think will counter-act that in any way," he added.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has questioned the fundamental argument behind the Government’s policy, namely that variations in closing times would lead to less violence on the streets.

"The assertion that 11pm closing leads to binge drinking is simply not supported by the evidence," Acpo said in a paper.

"One only has to look to popular holiday destinations to see the effect of allowing British youth unrestricted access to alcohol."

But the alcohol industry has said that the fears raised in the judges' report were exaggerated and outdated. Rob Hayward, Chief Executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), said that the Licensing Act would not dramatically change Britain's drinking culture.

"These appear to be old comments submitted in January and February to the Government's Drinking Responsibly white paper, and were written at the height of the fears about 24-hour licensing," said Mr Hayward, who stressed that most pubs would stay open only one hour longer under the new law.

"Applications for extended hours are generally for an extra hour or so on a Friday and Saturday night, from community pubs, and not from city centre locations," he added.

The BBPA has said that 90 per cent of its members have applied for "an extra hour or two" over the weekend. The BBPA represents two thirds of Britain's 59,000 pubs. According to the association's last survey, taken in January, not one member has applied for a 24-hour license.

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