Home Secretary admits majority of 13-year-olds drink as she threatens £1,000 fine for parents of binge-drinking children

Jacqui Smith also warned of young adult binge-drinkers with an "appetite for destruction" causing mayhem in town centres.

Despite admitting the huge alcohol problem, she gave a clear indication that 24-hour drinking is here to stay.

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A review, due to report within weeks, is expected to recommend no change.

Miss Smith said: "Without pre-empting the findings of the review, I do not expect the impact of changes to licensing hours on crime and disorder to have been as dramatic as some have suggested."

She delivered the blunt warning that 13-year-olds who drink are now in the majority for the age group - giving a total of nearly 350,000 in England and Wales - while unveiling heavily-trailed "new" powers to tackle the problem.

Miss Smith, who has sons aged 14 and nine, said police could be given new rights to confiscate alcohol from underage drinkers - those below the age of 18 - caught by the police in public places.

She also threatened the parents of underage drinkers with "parenting contracts" which could lead to a £1,000 fine if ignored.

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And she said an enforcement campaign costing £875,000 to confiscate alcohol will take place during next week's half-term holidays in 175 areas of the country.

Her remarks come after the widespread alarm caused by the murder last year of devoted father Garry Newlove by young thugs who had been drinking on the streets of Warrington.

But opponents dismissed the announcement as nothing more than a "headline-grabbing gimmick".

Police have had powers to seize alcohol from youngsters since 1997. Her proposed change, which is not certain to happen, would merely remove a requirement that police must suspect that an under-18 plans to consume the drink - which officers say has never been a problem.

It also emerged that the parenting contracts are nothing more than a "voluntary agreement".

Parents of the worst teenage drinkers could simply opt out of them.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: "This is yet another half-baked announcement designed to grab a headline.

"The powers to confiscate alcohol from underage drinkers on the street were proposed and passed under the last Conservative government, but ministers have no idea how effective the existing law is because they haven't the faintest idea how often it has been used."

Of more long-term significance are likely to be Miss Smith's remarks on irresponsible drinks promotions. She dropped heavy hints that if pubs and supermarkets do not stop selling alcohol so cheaply, the Government will be prepared to regulate.

As the Daily Mail revealed last month, this could include laws setting aside Competition Commission rules which bar a minimum price being fixed for the sale of alcohol.

Miss Smith revealed that the Government has commissioned a firm of auditors to carry out a review of whether pubs, clubs, off-licences and supermarkets are abiding by the standards set by the alcohol industry.

The report by KPMG - due to be completed by the end of next month - will focus on these cutprice drink promotions.

The Home Secretary said: "It can't be right that you can still find promotions for 50p shots until midnight or "all you can drink for a tenner" nights.

"And people are increasingly asking whether the approach to alcohol sales, marketing and promotions is as responsible as it needs to be."

She is also writing to chief constables telling them to take action against shops which sell alcohol to children.

"We have now reached a worrying tipping point where more 13-year- olds have drunk alcohol than have not," Miss Smith told a Home Office conference on alcohol enforcement in north London.

"This is clearly a cause for concern.

"There is alcohol education in schools, but we need to make sure this is as effective as possible in alerting children to the dangers of drinking."

Parents are also to blame, she said. "The idea that you can hand your kids a six-pack of lager and tell them to disappear off for the evening - with no thought to the consequences - frankly baffles me."

Miss Smith also admitted alarm at "young binge-drinkers, the 18 to 24-year-olds whose capacity for alcohol consumption seems to be matched in extreme cases only by an appetite for destruction".

She said a multi-million pound advertising campaign later this year will set out "in no uncertain terms" the dangers of bingedrinking.

A scheme which sees alcohol-related offenders referred to special counsellors will also be extended to ten more areas.