THE Manchester region is among the top five destinations in the country for bootlegged beer smuggled across the English Channel, says north west Euro-MP Chris Davies.

He estimates that up to 45,000 pints of beer are sold illegally in the Manchester area every day, with serious implications for under-age drinking and organised crime.

According to the British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA), about 1 million pints a day are smuggled into the UK for illegal resale. And last year more than 3,000 vans loaded with beer crossed the channel heading for the Manchester area, making it the fifth most popular destination in Britain.

Much of the bootlegged booze is sold to under-age drinkers. HM Customs and Excise is losing about £200m a year in unpaid duty and is spending an extra £200m this year alone on enforcement.

The BBPA argues that the trade in bootlegged beer is encouraged by huge differences in excise duty between Britain and France.

British drinkers currently pay up to 34p per pint in duty, but in France, the figure is about 4.5p. As a result, smugglers can make huge profits from buying cheep beer abroad and then re-selling it in the UK, often at lower prices than legitimate outlets can offer.

Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on the European Parliament's consumer affairs committee, says the government must cut excise duty sooner rather than later, in order to stamp out smuggling.

"With the introduction of the European single market in 1993, all EU countries agreed to harmonise their levels of excise duty," he explained.

"All of the other countries have kept their word. The Danish government, for example, has cut its rate of duty by 36% since then. But here in the UK, the rate has actually gone up by over 20%.

"As a result, we now have a situation where beer smuggling is out of control."