Tories 'binge drinking tax' to add 7p on a pint

But it is unlikely to raise cheers from drinkers who would face an increase of around 7p on the price of a pint of beer, 20p on a bottle of wine and 70p on a bottle of whisky.

The proposal is contained in a 200,000-word report commissioned by Tory leader David Cameron and written by one of his predecessors, Iain Duncan Smith.

The party's Social Justice Policy Group, chaired by Mr Duncan Smith, says a 'binge tax' is vital to improve the health of the nation - and it would be affordable because it would do no more than restore alcohol prices to their 1990s level in real terms.

The cost of alcohol compared to incomes has halved in the past 40 years while average consumption has increased dramatically, campaigners add.

The tax would fund the building of new treatment centres for alcoholics and drug addicts.

And the higher price of alcohol could be expected to cause a fall in consumption.

Mr Cameron and Mr Duncan Smith are to launch the report - which says that social breakdown under Labour is costing Britain more than £100billion a year - on Tuesday.

Asked if Mr Cameron would introduce a 'binge-drinking tax' if he became Prime Minister, a spokesman said: "We support the general thrust of the report, though we are not committed to introducing all the recommendations."

Two million Britons have a drink problem and 327,000 are hooked on hard drugs, say health experts.

Mr Duncan Smith is supporting a call by the Institute of Alcohol Studies for a rise of up to ten per cent on the £14billion currently raised from VAT and excise duty on alcohol sales. This would raise £1.4billion.

His report states: "The relationship between the affordability of alcohol and the level of consumption provides the Government with an effective tool for controlling levels of consumption within society through this tax.

"This would provide the funding needed to meet the social and economic costs of alcohol-related harm, such as police enforcement measures resulting from binge drinking and violence, health service costs and treatment for addicts."

The report also calls for a major overhaul of anti-drugs programmes.

Mr Duncan Smith says the downgrading of cannabis to a Class C drug was a mistake and it should be restored to a Class B drug, with tougher penalties for using it.

His report says the practice of treating addicts with 'supposedly less harmful substances' such as methadone, should be stopped. Instead, addicts should be guided to recovery by a policy of abstinence.

New residential treatment centres and juvenile drug courts are needed, too, says Mr Duncan Smith.

"The vogue for substituting methadone for heroin is entrenching addiction, condemning hundreds of thousands of people, some only teenagers, to a decade or more of dependency on drugs and far wider social failure and exclusion as they are rendered incapable of playing a constructive part in society," says the report.

"We need a new approach based on abstinence, peer support and rehabilitation to make people drug-free."