Now ALL the major political parties say they will raise taxes on alcohol, as they battle to look the toughest on binge drinking

By last night, all three parties had pledged to raise taxes on alcohol, with Chancellor Alistair Darling indicating that he will be hiking duties on wines and spirits in his debut Budget on Wednesday.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vincent Cable added a novel contribution to the debate, telling his party's spring conference that VAT on fruit juice and smoothies should be cut from 17.5 per cent to five per cent to help encourage healthy diets, with the anticipated £225million shortfall made up by raising the tax on some alcoholic drinks.

The Conservatives promised on Friday to raise tax on super-strength beer, cider and alcopops to tackle binge-drinking, while reducing the tax on low-strength beer and cider enjoyed by 'sensible' drinkers.

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Mr Cable told his party's conference in Liverpool that Ministers had failed to discourage binge-drinking by cutting taxes in real terms on "highly alcoholic beverages".

They had in effect promoted "cut-price Bacardi Breezers and vodka shots", he said.

Health groups welcomed the Lib Dem proposal, pointing out that although some weekly shopping items are zero-rated for VAT, many drinks, including healthy fruit juices, attract the full rate.

But the Treasury dismissed Mr Cable's idea. A spokesman said: "The 2004 Wanless Report on public health highlighted difficulties of using the tax system to promote public health and stressed the importance of considering tax alongside alternative policy instruments to decide how health objectives, including the promotion of healthy eating, might be most cost-effectively achieved."

Mr Darling indicated in an interview yesterday that alcohol duties would rise and warned that tax receipts were likely to fall during a "difficult" time for the economy.

"It is a time of great uncertainty,' he said. 'My number one objective is to ensure that this is a Budget for stability. That is absolutely essential for the economy. It is essential for every family in this country. We have to ensure we support the economy in what are undoubtedly difficult times."

The rare consensus between the parties on the issue of tax on alcohol highlights how the widespread coverage of yobbish, drink-related behaviour in British town centres has made alcohol one of the few politically acceptable targets for tax-raising by the Government.

In an attempt to seize the initiative before the Budget, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne will today call on Mr Darling to cut the main rate of corporation tax from 28p to 25p and to abandon the Government's planned increase in the small-companies rate from 20p to 22p.

And Mr Cable called for much higher taxes on the rich to fund a 4p cut in income tax for low and middle-class families. "I would like to see a much tougher approach to the windfalls on property and land values enjoyed by the rich," he said.