A NEW licensing policy for Edinburgh that would see pubs have their opening hours cut and a limit imposed on how many people can stand with their drinks has been passed by councillors.

Edinburgh's licensing board has agreed to approve the draft policy, which will now go out to consultation before being adopted later this year.

Under the draft policy, weekday opening hours would be cut in most pubs from 1am to midnight and bars would be forced to provide seats for at least 50 per cent of drinkers.

The new rules are aimed at combating alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour and could start within months.

However, the new policy would still allow a general extension of opening hours during the Festival.

The policy has been criticised by the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, who said that its stance was "ridiculous".

Eilidh Moriarty, landlady of the Port Inn in Leith, said the proposals would be almost impossible to enforce. She said: "The council should get their act together and stop introducing more bylaws."