The Home Office is to unveil plans that would allow pubs to open round the clock and closing times to be staggered to cut down on the traditional throwing-out time flashpoints. The reforms will bring England and Wales closer to the continental model of licensing rules.

The reforms, to be announced in a white paper on Wednesday, will be popular with police, pub owners and with young people. The Tories, however, condemned the timing as a pre-election bribe.