Keep it local

I’ve written a piece for Chamber UK about the Government’s plan for an outdoor smoking ban.

Run by former MP Ben Howlett, Chamber UK describes itself as a ‘broadcaster and publisher of politics from across the UK’:

We have a readership of 119,000 – with our audience primarily being MPs, council leaders, devolved parliamentarians, council chief executives, director level civil servants as well as subscribers.

I was asked for 600+ words so I contributed 1,000. They were very good about it, though, and published it in full.

I made several points but the one I thought would resonate most with their audience was an appeal to put local democracy ahead of a nationwide ban imposed by central government:

In 2020 an amendment to the Business and Planning Bill that would have banned smoking in the new outside pavement areas was withdrawn after the Conservative government rejected the idea that smoking should be prohibited in all outdoor seating areas that were licensed to serve food and drink.

According to a statement, ‘The government will not ban outdoor smoking. Since the existing [indoor] ban was introduced, businesses have invested heavily in their outdoor areas and banning outdoor smoking would lead to significant closures and job losses.’

That remains the position today and it seems to be working well because, although local authorities have the power to ban smoking in licensed pavement areas, only a handful have chosen to do so, which suggests there is very little demand to extend the indoor ban to outside areas when more liberal solutions, based on tolerance, common sense and pragmatism, already exist.

Despite this, the newly elected Labour government wants to by-pass local authorities and impose a nationwide ban on smoking outside pubs, bars and restaurants, taking what should be a local issue out of the hands of local people and local businesses.

At stake is the ability of cafes, pubs and bars to choose policies on smoking that work best for them and their customers without unnecessary and intrusive government intervention.

In a perfect world, of course, this would not be an issue for either central or local government.

Given a choice, however, I would prefer decisions that could seriously impact local businesses to be made by local authorities, not central government, even though some will inevitably be driven by the same anti-smoking ideology that has infected Whitehall.

Full article: Why Extending the Smoking Ban to Outdoor Areas is a Threat to Pubs, Clubs, and Local Democracy (Chamber UK)

ASH was also invited to contribute - see Creating a Smokefree Country: The New Government’s 2024 Reforms.