Saturday night crackdown planned by Labour

Kerb crawlers, irresponsible pub landlords and drunken yobs face a crackdown from new legislation planned to combat the disorderly behaviour blighting Britain's streets.

Kerb crawlers, irresponsible pub landlords and drunken yobs face a crackdown from new legislation planned to combat the disorderly behaviour blighting Britain's streets.

The government plans to include measures in a major new criminal justice Bill, intended as the centrepiece of the forthcoming Queen's Speech - which may well be Labour's last before the next general election.

The Bill will give police the power to issue fixed penalty notices for a range of low-level "Saturday night" disorder offences.

Officers will either issue the notice on the spot, giving the offender up to 30 days to pay, or at the police station if an arrest is made.

As well as acting as a deterrent, one of the main aims is to free up officers from the paperwork associated with processing such offences at the moment.

There will be no mention of Prime Minister Tony Blair's ill-fated idea that police should be given powers to march drunken louts to a cash machine and demand they pay a £100 on-the-spot fine.

To cut alcohol abuse police will be given powers to close "rogue" pubs with bad records for violence, and the bill is also expected to include regulation of the pub and club security industry, with licensing arrangements for doormen.

The aim is to try to ensure that bouncers are not themselves involved in criminal activities such as drug dealing.

And in a move designed to clean up inner city "red light" areas, the Bill will make kerb crawling an arrestable offence.

At the moment, men who cruise the backstreets by car in search of prostitutes - often making life a misery for local residents - are stopped by police, have their details taken and possibly receive a court summons through the post.

But the Government believes that making kerb crawling an arrestable offence would create a powerful deterrent to the practice.

Ministers want to build on the progress of recent years on reducing burglary and car crime by putting an increased emphasis on tackling yobbish behaviour.