ROMSEY MP Sandra Gidley is demanding strict controls on alcohol advertising to help end the UK's reputation as the "drunk man of Europe".

Mrs Gidley a health spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, introduced a Bill in the House of Commons to tackle what she has described as the "next big public health challenge" after smoking.

The Bill seeks to ban advertising of alcohol before the television watershed and in cinemas, except during films with an adult rating.

The proposed law would force manufacturers to label products with the number of units of alcohol they contain, along with a reminder about safe drinking limits. It would also seek to prevent supermarkets selling alcoholic drinks at a loss.

Mrs Gidley claimed alcohol misuse cost the national economy about £25 billion a year. This included the extra burden to the health service, which recorded a doubling in the number of cases of liver cirrhosis and alcohol poisoning over the past decade, the cost of crime and anti-social behaviour, and lost productivity at work.

Mrs Gidley outlined her proposals under the Ten Minute Rule, a Parliamentary procedure which enables MPs to introduce backbench Bills. They stand little chance of becoming law without Government support.