Licensing Minister Gerry Sutcliffe writes for thepublican.com

There were two takes on the crime figures that came out last week. The scaremongering one ­ "All night drinking all night violence" or "24 hour drinking leads to a surge in

violence" ­ and the more sober one ­ overall, serious incidents between 6pm and 6am have fallen. The latter is the truth.

Yes, the figures showed a slight increase in disorder after 3am ­ an increase of 236 incidents across 30 police forces, an average of eight per force over a year.

But overall the number of offences is down by five per cent. Of course, any increase in alcohol-related crime at any time of day is unwelcome but these statistics must been seen in context.

An aim of the Act was to reduce the flashpoints at 11pm and 2am. Bars and clubs now close at different times over a longer period enabling the police

to better deal with disorder. Another report said that A&E attendances had increased since the laws changed. This was one study from one hospital ­ it¹s misleading to say that

this is representative for the whole country. More recent and more comprehensive reports from other areas saw a different picture.

A Cardiff University study of 33 A&E departments found that overall there was a decrease of two per cent in serious violence.

There is no evidence of widespread problems. There may be some areas which are bucking this trend, of course. But we should not rubbish the Act, which

is transforming the way we spend our free time and giving the police tough powers to deal with drunken yobs, because of misrepresentation.

As the Prime Minister said, we expect to complete our evaluation of the Licensing Act by the end of the year.

Let's look at the Act in the context of that and not rush to judgement.