Labour minister says smoke ban ‘is not attack on hospitality industry’…despite pub bosses’ anger & warnings of punch-ups
A LABOUR minister has claimed that the proposed smoking ban “isn’t an attack on the hospitality industry” despite a backlash from pub bosses.
The Government is preparing plans to prohibit cigarettes outside venues like football grounds, bars and clubs, as exclusively revealed by The Sun.
Leaked plans, later confirmed by Sir Keir Starmer, revealed that ministers were drawing up legislation to extend the existing indoor smoking ban to selected outdoor areas.
These are set to include pub gardens, restaurant terraces and shisha bars, as well as children’s parks and pavements near universities and hospitals.
Commenting on the plans during a visit to Paris, the Prime Minister said: “My starting point on this is to remind everybody that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking.
“That is a preventable death, it’s a huge burden on the NHS and, of course, it is a burden on the taxpayer.
“So, yes, we are going to take decisions in this space…we’ve got to take action to reduce the burden on the NHS and the taxpayer.”
THE SUN SAYS: With its foolish smoking ban Labour will see its supposed growth agenda go up in smoke
WITH one foolish, nanny-state-on-steroids edict, Labour will put a match to its supposed growth agenda and see it go up in smoke.
Along with thousands of communities’ pubs and huge numbers of jobs.
We never thought any Government would care so little for personal freedom, not to mention livelihoods and the economy, to ban smoking outdoors.
That this new law could even engulf vaping, the most effective anti-smoking pastime ever, shows how absurd it is.
The health concerns the Government has swallowed sound utterly spurious. How many of us get cancer from a whiff of second-hand smoke in a pub garden?
For our pubs, though, it IS a death knell.
Battered by soaring costs and dwindling punters, especially since the 2007 indoor smoking ban, thousands have already closed.
Others survived only by pouring money into outdoor areas for smokers — who will now stay home to enjoy a ciggie, at least while that remains legal.
This incendiary idea wasn’t in Labour’s manifesto, nor the King’s Speech.
And we know why. The Tories dismissed it four years ago because “banning outdoor smoking would lead to significant closures and job losses”.
Labour’s Business Department made the same objection but was overruled.
Again and again the Government says economic growth is its No1 priority.
Again and again it makes ideological decisions all but designed to destroy it.
While the move is being justified on the basis of reducing costs to the health service, the hospitality sector has sounded the alarm, claiming it will ravage the already struggling industry.
Critics have pointed to the fact that the proposals were not included in Labour’s manifesto nor the King’s Speech in July, with the party only saying it would continue the last government’s policy of phasing out smoking gradually.
Kate Nicholls, chair of industry body Hospitality UK, told LBC: “This wouldn’t just affect pub gardens… It’s also restaurant areas. It’s the cafes. It’s the high streets. It’s the seating that’s outside those areas.
“So where there’s been a heavy investment made in the period post-Covid into creating those outside areas, which have brought so much light and life to our town centres and high streets.
“This would be a very significant impact on those customers that use those areas, both smokers and non-smokers.”
Some pub bosses have even suggested that frustration over the ban could spark punch-ups if people try and skirt the rules.
However, speaking today on Sky News, Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell insisted that the plans were “not an attack” on pubs.
She said: “There has been a consensus for a long time now that we want to see a smoke-free country.
“The health benefits of that and the benefits to our economy of a smoke-free country and a smoke-free generation are huge.
“We’re certainly not attacking the hospitality industry…it’s vital to our communities, our economy and our high street.
“Any such measures to extend these issues around smoking will be done in consultation with hospitality businesses.”
Nevertheless, despite the criticism of the plan, ministers appear set to push ahead, with the backing of Prof Chris Witty, England’s Chief Medical Officer.
They argue that smoking costs the Treasury £21.8 billion every year, far outstripping the amount taken in through taxes on cigarettes.
A public consultation will be launched in the coming months, but it is understood to be unlikely to affect the Government’s position.
RIGHT TO BAN CIGS OUTSIDE?
YES
Says Lizzie Parry, Head of Health
SMOKING kills more people than obesity, alcohol, drugs and lack of exercise combined.
Most deaths are down to lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.
But it’s also linked to cancer of the lip, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, stomach and liver.
And it’s not just your health that’s affected.
Inhaling second-hand smoke has been linked to a greater risk of heart disease, lung and breast cancers, strokes, dementia and asthma in non-smokers.
Anything that helps create a world that protects children and young people from the harms of smoking is a no-brainer to me.
I’m old enough to remember nights out before the smoking ban, when it was normal to get home stinking of smoke and with your clothes ruined by fag burns.
Maybe in ten years the idea of smoking in public will be just that — a horrible memory.
Younger generations will thank us.
NO
Says Shaun Custis, Head of Sport
I NEED a fag just to calm down after the latest clampdown from the government zealots — and I haven’t had one for a month.
I’m one of those occasional smokers who likes a cig in the backyard of the pub on a Friday night after a couple of pints but rarely goes near them otherwise.
Yes, I know no fags are better, but give me a break.
At least it’s not a double cheese burger and fries, which is no doubt next on the list of the health police.
The argument goes the ban on smoking inside pubs didn’t kill the trade.
But being able to pop outside for a drag saved the day.
Now, if you can’t even do that, it will be time to stay at home, invite your mates round and nip out to the patio — until they stop you smoking on your own land.
And, as drinking is also bad for you, we’re not far off an alcohol ban in pubs, too, in this world of utter madness.
It’s insane. Anyone got a light?