“In Newquay, we have used seizure legislation over the past three seasons to seize 8,000 items of liquor.

“But is this really what we want the police to be doing?

“We have to do something about the parents’ understanding of the danger their children are in.”

He said there were cases of young people being sent on holiday with booze given to them by their parents – and some mothers and fathers allow their drinks cabinet to be raided.

Mr Otter also criticised people walking down the street agreeing to buy alcohol for underage children. He described how marketing is targeting the young.

Mr Otter told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: “A lot of alcopops are served in what look like water bottles with the pop-up tops.

“They are coloured bright blue and purple – not drinks in our view that are designed for a 45-year-old couple’s dinner table.”

He said “sweet” drinks for women now contain vodka as well as additives such as caffeine to help them drink for longer. An average night would see a young woman down eight vodka and Red Bull energy drinks.

And he called for a ban on pubs where the sole aim is to cram people in standing up rather than encouraging them to “sit around and chat”.

In Devon and Cornwall, booze was linked to 33 per cent of all violent offences in 2004/05 – but that rose to 47 per cent last year.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: “This is further damning evidence against the Government’s 24-hour drinking policy.”