Too soon to allow drinking at 16

Last week's figures on underage drinking were a shot in the arm for the pub trade, and actually, to be fair, the off-trade too. Both sides of the drinks industry proved they're continuing to improve in dealing with children who are trying to buy alcohol in their premises. And looking back a year or more, that progress is very marked indeed.

Of course, this is no time for the pub trade to relax its vigilance. As the chief executive of Alcohol Concern warned at the BII's tied-trade forum last week, there is still much that needs to be done in terms of ensuring checking systems are regularly monitored and updated. Nevertheless, licensees everywhere can congratulate themselves on the way they have responded to a very stern test set for them by the Government last year.

But that's led to a nice irony. The better the pub trade has policed its underage drinkers, the more visible those children have become in parks and on street corners. This in turn has sparked a debate over whether children should be allowed to drink unaccompanied in pubs as soon as they're 16.

The argument in favour - made strongly by Tim Martin and Giles Thorley, and now by some senior doctors and policemen - is that children learn to drink in a safe and supervised environment. As most people began drinking in pubs around this age anyway, why not accept the reality of the situation and ensure we teach our children that alcohol is fine, as long as it's treated with respect?

There's a certain logic to that line, and certainly other European countries - as Phil Dixon points out on page 23 - allow 16-year-olds to drink like this.

But to think that Government will seriously explore this option is utterly incredible. With youth liver problems on an upward curve and images of Booze Britain still fresh in the minds of Middle England, it would be political suicide to propose lowering the drinking age limit.

Re-classifying cannabis a few years ago is turning out to be an ill-judged move. The same could be true with this change for alcohol. Admittedly 18 is arbitrary, but so is 16. If we did go that young, the 14 and 15-year-olds would surely feel they too were entitled to drink with their mates in pubs.

Sadly, our hard-drinking culture is far too volatile to open up to 16-year-olds. If the steps being taken to educate children in the use of alcohol are successful, then we can look at lowering to 16. But that is most probably still a long way off yet.