Research has found that it costs less to quench your thirst with alcohol than bottled water at leading supermarkets.

Discounted own-brand alcohol is sold for as little as 23p per can, according to the drink and drug charity Addaction.

This research comes on the eve of Government plans to tackle binge drinking.

New laws, to be unveiled on Wednesday, will ban pubs, clubs and shops from "irresponsible" price promotions.

Addaction said proposals may not include measures to stop cheap booze from being sold in supermarkets and off-licenses.

The charity analysed a shopping basket of popular alcoholic drinks from supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and ASDA.

Although the range of cheap alcohol on offer has shrunk over the past year, Addaction found that the shops are still offering their own brand of “value booze”.

Tesco Value lager cost just 23p per can, or 26.1p per unit of alcohol. This was less than the equivalent volume of bottled water.

Cider by the three supermarkets cost just 59p per litre, or less than a bottle of coke.

The researchers also found that Sainsbury’s and ASDA had two-for-one deals on a well-known brand of 5.2% lager, and that value vodka was being sold for as little as £6.55 per bottle.

The charity said the cost of items was on average 8% cheaper than the recommended retail price, while some items were as much as 40% cheaper.

It concluded that alcohol, when considered as a proportion of income, is now almost 70% more affordable than in 1980.

Deborah Cameron, chief executive of Addaction, said: “We see how cheap booze leads to excessive drinking and accidents, injury and reckless behaviour in our treatment centres every day.

“As we approach the festive period, town centres across the country will see even more drinking to excess, costing huge amounts of police and NHS time and money.

“Alcohol needs to be treated as the potentially dangerous intoxicant it is.

“This survey shows there is still an urgent need for the Government to take hard action to stop shops selling under-priced drink immediately.”

Addaction supports 27,000 people in the UK who are battling drug and alcohol problems.

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