Binge Drinking Among Young Women has Reached Epidemic Proportions

The number of women and girls arrested for being drunk and disorderly has leapt tenfold in parts of Britain over the past five years. The shocking increase in drunken loutishness by 'ladettes' - up more than 50 per cent across the country overall - is being blamed by police leaders on the Government's controversial 24-hour licensing reforms.

Alcohol campaigners warned that women who follow the example of male binge-drinkers were creating a time-bomb of serious health problems, including soaring rates of liver disease.

The figures - and demands for urgent action from senior police - will add to pressure on Gordon Brown, who raised campaigners' hopes by ordering a review of the licensing reforms when he became Prime Minister last year, but then dashed them by opting to leave the new laws as they were.

Figures requested from police forces across England and Wales under the Freedom of Information Act by Channel 4 News Online reveal dramatic increases in numbers of women arrested for drunk and disorderly offences.

The most dramatic surge was in the West Midlands which experienced a 1,138 per cent increase from 59 arrests in 2003-4 to 731 in 2007-8.

Mike Craik, Chief Constable of Northumbria Police, where drunk and disorderly arrests among women have risen from 1,414 to 2,101 in the past five years, told Channel 4 there was a 'clear need' for tough action, particularly to tackle under-age drinking.

A recent survey of hospital admissions across Britain found that alcohol-related cases were up 25 per cent in two years, and had risen four-fold in the worstaffected areas.

The data was not included in the Government's recent review of the impact of the new laws, which claimed the burden on the NHS was 'stable'.

Women are less able to metabolise alcohol in the body and suffer more extreme health effects than men who drink similar amounts.

Medical experts warn that binge drinking among young women has reached epidemic roportions, with some in their 20s and 30s suffering liver conditions which doctors expect tosee among far older, hardened drinkers.

Women aged 35 to 44 are seven times more likely to die from chronic liver disease than they were 30 years ago.