I may have been premature when I suggested last week that an attempt to extend the smoking ban to outdoor dining areas was not an imminent threat.
As I explained six days ago, a Lib Dem peer was calling to extend the smoking ban to outdoor dining areas via the Business and Planning Bill.
I also noted that cross party supporters of the initiative all had links with ASH and that Baroness Northover had thanked ASH for “its assistance”.
Overnight the i newspaper reported that a ‘cross-party group of peers’ is ‘set to force a vote on the issue next week’.
The story was picked by the Mail and the Press Association issued a report too, hence the further coverage it’s been getting.
Last week I warned that while there was no imminent threat of a ban (the government seemed happy to leave things to local authorities and individual businesses) things could “escalate quickly”.
Funnily enough, a small part of me welcomes this initiative if only because it will flush out the level of support it has within government and the hospitality industry.
There is absolutely no justification, on health grounds, to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas so it will be fascinating to see how this develops.
Update: I was discussing this on Radio Scotland this morning with public health ‘expert’ Linda Bauld.
Linda is never off the air talking about Covid-19 (a genuine public health crisis) but she found time in her busy diary to support a ban on smoking outside pubs.
When I asked her if smoking outside was harmful to non-smokers she admitted there was no “significant risk” but argued that is it still a public health issue because children might see people smoking and be influenced by it.
When I was growing up in Scotland adults were not allowed to take their drinks outside and pubs had frosted glass. It was all to do with shielding ‘minors’ from the sight of adults drinking alcohol.
In my case, and most of my friends, it made us more not less curious about drinking.
Of course, the fact that smokers are outside is a direct result of the smoking ban but instead of supporting indoor smoking rooms the tobacco control industry wants to prohibit smoking outside too.
I had hoped for a bit more common sense from Linda Bauld but anti-smoking campaigners, like leopards, never change their spots.
She even had a sly dig at the source of Forest’s funding, as if this was a killer blow to my argument. Instead it just made her sound like a mouthpiece for ASH.
I like Linda but the gloves are off. She showed herself up for the campaigner and activist she really is.