The Government hushed up evidence that 24-hour drinking would lead to more violence in city centres, according to leaked documents.
Despite warnings from senior police officers, Ministers hope relaxing drinking laws next year will result in a more European "café society".
But Home Secretary David Blunket has serious reservations and, it has now been revealed, the Government ignored warning from top medics.
Professor Colin Drummond, of the Royal Society of Psychiatrists, claims that their report was "sexed down" for political reasons.
And Prof Griffith Edwards, of the National Addiction Centre, said he had seldom seen "a consensus of informed scientific advice so trashed".
The Sunday Times 06/06/04 page 5
