Government efforts to ban binge drinking are unlikely to succeed because cash-strapped councils simply don't have enough people even to enforce existing laws, a legal expert has claimed.

And, to compound the problem, most drinkers simply do not believe the safe alcohol consumption guidelines according to Maynard Burton, chairman of MFG Solicitors and a specialist in the sale and acquisition of licensed premises such as hotels, pubs, bars and clubs.

All the authorities were likely to achieve was to make the economics of the licensing trade more problematic.

His comments follow much talk about putting a halt to all-you-can-drink deals along with some of the more outlandish drinking games - often the preserve of students.

The Government insisted last month that it would ban so-called irresponsible promotions and boozy contests such as the "dentist's chair" - where alcohol is poured directly into customers' mouths - in an effort to tackle Britain's perceived binge-drinking culture.

Mr Burton said he did not believe any new legislation was required.

Existing law made it an offence to serve customers who were inebriated.

"But how do you monitor it?" he asked. "With all the difficulties facing pubs today, and so many going out of existence, most landlords are going to want an extra sale if they can get it.

"With policing down to local councils, many of which are axing jobs in the current crisis, there is not the staff to enforce the law properly."

According to health guidelines, men should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week and no more than four units in any one day. Women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week and no more than three units in any one day.

One unit of alcohol is about equal to half a pint of ordinary strength beer, lager or cider, or a small pub measure of spirits.

"The trouble is that these warning signs have lost their sting," said Mr Burton. "People don't believe them and you may well find that some better informed members of the community will on the quiet admit that these limits are at the very lowest end of the scale."

Mr Burton said it was in any case difficult to define binge drinking. An experienced drinker might, without getting out of order, consume the same amount which made an inexperienced counterpart so drunk they might do something stupid.

In any case the student pound was a double-edged sword for publicans. Long holidays meant they often weren't around, they were notoriously broke for extended periods and their "antics" could put off the regulars.

Of students letting off steam and drinkers on a bender, he noted: "It was always thus!"

And, were the Government to pursue both, all that would be achieved was "another nail in the coffins of retailers".

Britain's alcohol consumption has risen by 40 per cent over the past four decades, although per-capita drinking is still lower than in many other European countries including Russia, Spain, Germany and France.