HEMMING SEEKS BOOZE CLUES

28-11-2007

Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming is demanding to know how much cash the Home Office expects to raise from an initiative which involves funding undercover Police to spy on drunk people in pubs. Hemming is planning a pub crawl as an act of civil disobedience.

West Midlands Police intend to target three areas under the scheme – Birmingham city centre, Handsworth and Lozells – although when we asked them for details they were rather evasive.

They told us: “this is a Home Office campaign and you will need to speak to them to get the background on this.”

Er, thanks.

Hemming, the Yardley MP, told us last week that he wants to test the law by becoming ever so slightly inebriated – and he’ll be partaking of a crawl sometime over the coming weekend accompanied by The Stirrer.(see link here)

In the meantime he’s tabled an Early Day Motion in the Commons, and also posed a parliamentary question along the same lines, asking: “What is the government's estimate as to how much money will be received from fixed penalty fines of £80 for people found to be drunk in public houses?”