Reality check as Number Ten reconsiders outdoor pub smoking ban
Friday, October 25, 2024 at 8:40 Good news.
It was reported last night that the Government is to drop its plan to ban smoking outside pubs, including beer gardens.
Nothing has been confirmed but if it’s true it’s a victory for common sense, and everyone who has been arguing against the policy.
I don’t think the issue will go away, though. After all, it’s been around for a decade at least and is currently being pushed by none other than the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty who seems to be on a personal mission to eradicate smoking.
Nor does it stop the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland introducing the policy, should they choose to.
In the meantime health secretary Wes Streeting continues to promise a “tougher” version of Rishi Sunak’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill so nothing can be ruled out, including bans on smoking in other outdoor areas.
Funnily enough it's exactly ten years since Boris Johnson was urged, as mayor of London, to ban smoking in the city’s parks, a suggestion he rejected on the grounds that the plan was too interventionist:
“One of the glories of London is that we are generally pretty laissez-faire about how people live their lives – provided they do not break the law and provided they do no harm to others,” he said.
He said he might act on the [London Health] commission’s advice but only if he was convinced that doing so would save lives. “If we were to consider a ban on smoking in parks, we would need pretty clear evidence that this would have direct health benefits – in other words that it would actually save lives. It is time for London to have that debate.”
The reality is that no such evidence exists, as even Number Ten appears to admit, although that’s never stopped governments in the past.
I’ve no doubt that the existential threat to the hospitality industry has influenced government thinking, but public opinion - as evidenced by a recent poll commissioned by Forest and reported by Guido Fawkes and The Sun - was clearly divided on the issue, with slightly more people being against the idea than in favour.
As for the timing of the Government’s alleged u-turn, can it be coincidence that it was reported just 48 hours after our Smoke On The Water reception attended by MPs and a host of parliamentary aides, including Labour staffers?
Or that one of our speakers was a prominent young Labour activist who opposed the policy on the grounds that it was fundamentally “illiberal”?
Anyway, the battle is not yet won and there are other significant challenges, notably the generational ban on the sale of tobacco, so it's back to work, beginning with an interview on GB News later this morning.
See also: Pub garden smoking ban set to be DROPPED by No 10 (The Sun)
No 10 blocking outdoor smoking ban amid hospitality opposition (Guardian)
Labour ‘will drop plans for outdoor smoking ban’ (Telegraph)
Government refuses to comment on reports of it dropping proposed outdoor smoking ban (Sky News)
Reader Comments (1)
Simon, looking forward to reading the piece in the Tobacco Reporter. You are a true freedom fighter!
The below video is of professional Tobacco Control activists discussing their plans to eliminate tobacco in the U.S. by imposing a Generational Tobacco Ban.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wrV_H5ct78