MANY rank and file Kent police officers believe later drinking hours will fuel more violence and disorder and are urging the Government to re-think the legislation.

Judges have also warned that problems will spiral and have branded the relaxation in the law as 'lunacy’.

The new law allowing round-the-clock drinking is due to come into force in November.

The chairman of the Kent Police Federation, Ian Pointon, said: “Later drinking hours will stretch police patrols beyond breaking point and remove officers from important duties to tackle drink-fuelled violence.

“It is naive in the extreme for the Government to claim that 24-hour drinking will somehow turn binge drinking yobs into wine-sipping Continentals.

“Binge drinking and the associated violence, damage and drunken disorder will not be stopped by the increased access to alcohol.”

He added: “We should also understand that the impact of these proposals will extend beyond policing but also to hospital A&E departments.”

The Government is also facing the wrath of circuit judges who say the situation with drink-fuelled violence is already 'grave’.

The Council for Her Majesty’s Circuit Judges, which represents 600 judges, has launched a scathing attack on the licensing reforms.

In a blistering response to the proposals Judge John Samuels, QC, says the idea of late-night opening is 'close to lunacy’. And he called the Government’s vision of a Mediterranean-style drinking culture as 'wishful thinking’.

A report by the Circuit Judges Council to the Government responding to the reforms says: “Those who routinely see the consequences of drink-fuelled violence in offences of grievous bodily harm and rape are in no doubt the escalation in offences of this nature will inevitably be caused by the relaxation of liquor licensing which has now been authorised.”

A spokesman for the Department of Culture said: “We are not saying the police support every aspect of the Licensing Act. Of course, there are dissenting voices.

“But the fact is a range of police bodies, including the Association of Chief Police Officers who voiced support for the introduction of more flexible opening, support licensing reform and we are working closely with them to implement it.”