Birmingham City Council’s public health chiefs have taken away their support for the Government’s responsibility deal on public health in protest at recent Whiteahall decisions to backtrack on plans to introduce minimum alcohol pricing and plain packaging for cigarettes.

Instead Birmingham, which is the country’s largest local authority, will seek to formulate its own plans to tackle public health issues such as obesity, alcohol abuse and smoking.

Cllr Steve Bedser, cabinet member for health and wellbeing lambasted the Government for committing the health U-turns.

Birmingham said the decision was driven by Government U-turns on cigarettes and alcohol.

‘We’re withdrawing from the deal because we feel the Government has already broken the deal and is not acting responsibly,’ said Cllr Bedser.

‘The two things that are driving this are our concerns about the Government’s failure to implement plain packaging and the failure to tackle cheap super strength alcohol. These failures will lead to more lives tragically being lost in the city,' Cllr Bedser added.

Birmingham’s director of public health, Dr Adrian Phillips branded the decision to drop minimum unit price plans for alcohol as ‘a huge missed opportunity’.

‘I am really disappointed with the lack of progress with the responsibility deal across the country,' Dr Phillips said.

'Birmingham council signed up to the initiative when it was first announced but we now believe that there is no alternative but to try a different approach because it clearly hasn’t worked.’

According to figures issued by Birmingham Drug and Alcohol Action Team, one in four men and 17% of women in the city are drinking above safe limits. At peak times, up to 70% of all admissions to accident and emergency departments in Birmingham are related to alcohol.