One third of woundings now happen in bars

According to the Government's British Crime Survey, 29 per cent of all stabbings and other violent attacks could be linked to the area in or around drinking establishments.

In 2005/6, the first year of round-the-clock opening, 25 per cent of woundings took place in pubs or clubs, the equivalent of 137,750 vicious attacks.

Drink crime: The total included almost a third (29%) of woundings which happened in and around licensed premises (file photo)

But in 2006/7, the number being wounded while out drinking rose to the equivalent of 167,620 people, or 460 every day.

It means that, as 24-hour drinking becomes more established and more premises open later, an extra 30,000 people are being wounded in or around drinking establishments.

Last year, pubs and clubs were also linked to a string of other crimes. Some 18 per cent of all violence took place there  -  445,000 offences  -  along with eight per cent of robberies.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'These Home Office statistics are a sad reflection of the appalling state of law and order under Labour.

'They contain even grimmer tidings for the future.

'Two years after the Government unleashed 24-hour drinking on our towns and cities, violence committed on our streets has shot up and violence in pubs and clubs is also beginning to rise.

'Yet Labour have tied up our police in so much red tape that fewer than half of the public believe the police will be there when they need them.'

Separate figures from the Crime Survey revealed more worrying evidence of a teenage crimewave.

Nearly one in eight violent offenders is now aged under 16, according to their victims.

Where victims were able to describe their attacker, they said he or she was 'school age or under' in 12 per cent of cases.

In 51 per cent of incidents the offender was aged 16 to 24, the poll added.

According to the figures, one in ten wounding victims were attacked by a child.

Mr Davis added: 'What is truly tragic is the level of violence by and against young people.

'Labour has utterly failed to prevent this and in doing so has betrayed a whole generation.'

The figures on wounding add to a mounting pile of evidence against the liberalisation of the drinking laws.

In March, ministers were forced to admit that there is 25 per cent more serious violencein the early hours of the morning, and that a promised reduction in alcohol-fuelled disorder has not materialised.

They threatened the 'wholesale withdrawal of licences' in town centres where drinking is out of control.

Police have warned that they are now so busy dealing with outbreaks of violence through the early hours that there are barely any officers to patrol during the day.

One London hospital said alcohol-related admissions had jumped threefold.

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said the Government was spending £5million targeting violence hotspots.

He added: 'Violence is extremely rare in this country and has actually fallen by 31 per cent over the past decade. But there is always more we can do.'