Key Labour figures who drew up the new 24-hour drinking laws stand accused of receiving thousands of pounds in foreign junkets and hospitality from the alcohol industry. Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group - known as The Beer Club - went on an all-expenses paid trip to Copenhagen, including a visit to the Carlsberg brewery. The British Beer & Pub Association, claims The Mail on Sunday, also hired PR firm Weber Shandwick to lobby against "any Government back-sliding" over the new laws. The paper warns against the dangers of a "binge-drinking epidemic". It says an independent Parliamentary report forecast an "explosion in alcohol consumption and street violence". A similar pattern apparently emerged when pub regulations were relaxed in Iceland, Australia, Canada and Ireland. The Mail on Sunday 14/08/05 pages 8 & 9

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