FEWER North-East teenagers are being admitted to hospital with alcohol poisoning, despite a sharp rise across the rest of the country.

A total of 282 under-18s were hospitalised across the region in 2003/4, said the Department of Health.

This was a fall of 42 per cent on the 483 who ended up in hospital in 1996/7, the year before Labour came to power.

In contrast, across the UK admissions for alcohol-related diseases among under-18s increased by 11 per cent over the same period.

There was a also a big rise in North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, from 144 in 1996/7 to 252 in 2003/4, an increase of 75 per cent.

Among North-East adults, the number rose from 2,472 in 1996/7 to 2,758 in 2003/4, an increase of 12 per cent.

The figures were described as shocking by Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow, who said: "This shows that binge drinking among teenagers is completely out of control.

"Dither and delay are the hallmarks of this Government's approach to alcohol.

"It has taken eight years for ministers to begin to wake up to the problem and ask the NHS to draw up alcohol harm reduction strategies."

The statistics prompted Shadow Home Secretary David Davis to call for the Government to abandon plans for round-the-clock pub opening from November.

Ministers have said the new drinking laws will give the police greater powers to close down pubs and clubs linked to late-night drunkeness and violence.

A spokeswoman for Alcohol Concern said that, since 1990, average alcohol consumption among those adolescents who drink had risen from five to ten units a week.