Andy Morrison

I was very sorry to read, late last night, that Andy Morrison has died. I had no idea he was ill, so it was a bit of a shock.

Andy, I should explain, is reasonably well known in vaping circles. He quit smoking, switched to vaping, and became a keen advocate of e-cigarettes, always willing to offer help and advice, but without being preachy.

I can’t remember when our paths first crossed, but in September 2015 we both gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Health and Sport Committee alongside Sheila Duffy (ASH Scotland) and Linda Bauld (Cancer Research UK).

Andy was representing the New Nicotine Alliance and a year later I met him again when he organised the UK premiere of A Billion Lives, the documentary produced by Milwaukee filmmaker Aaron Biebert.

Writing on this blog, I noted that:

The screening took place at the Odeon in Braehead, Glasgow. There were 40 or so people in the auditorium and I was one of them.

It was a far cry from the Hollywood premiere that took place a few hours later, or the New York City screening (with Q&A!) hosted by Jeff Stier, senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, but credit to organiser Andy Morrison for pulling it off.

What I admired was the fact that, while other vaping activists in the UK dithered and sat on their hands, Andy went ahead and organised the event.

Others can talk about the work he did to promote vaping, but I quickly discovered he had a stubborn, mischievous side.

In 2017, for example, ahead of the annual E-Cigarette Summit (which I had been critical of for not inviting many consumers to speak), he messaged me as follows:

How u doing Simon. Fancy going to the summit and causing some disturbance? I intend to go.

Tempting though it was, I replied:

I'm definitely thinking about going but wasn't planning to cause a disturbance! What did you have in mind?

[Andy] What I have in mind is to demand an explanation of why an 'ecig' summit has only one vaper on one panel. It's utterly repugnant to me that this is being turned into a .... Oh I don't know what to call it .... forum for those who think they know all about ecigs .... nothing about us without us would be my stance.

[Me] I agree something needs to be said and I'm happy to advise but I think it would be counter-productive to have me alongside you because this has to come from the vaping community not the 'tobacco lobby'. How many vapers are going? At the first Summit in 2013 there were lots of vapers. There seem to be fewer and fewer each year. It would help if there was a small group of you.

[Andy] I agree - I've been to the last 3. And it's getting less and less vapers attending. I don't think there will be many there this time round at all. Whilst I understand your concerns, and by the same token, I often shy away from siding with you for obvious reasons, between me and you, where I can find common ground with you, I will support you. I'm happy to go there and make a point. I don't care who I upset in the process. I think this point has to be made and am happy to go out of my way to make it. It's a twat of a journey to make just to attend, but if I'm gonna go, then I will be heard.

If I remember he did go and as a result of his persistence he was eventually included on one of the panels.

Three years ago I invited him to take part in a Forest webinar that featured a panel of consumers including Mark Littlewood, then director general of Institute of Economic Affairs; Henry Hill, news editor, Conservative Home; visual artist Anita Chowdry; website content manager Emily Wieja; and Pat Nurse of this parish.


Prior to the event he sent me the following biographical notes to edit and use in my introduction:

Ex Royal Air Force, now a self-employed IT specialist living in Scotland. Was a pack-a-day smoker for 40 years and of the mindset that nobody would ever get me to stop smoking. Accidentally switched to vaping in December 2011 and never looked back. On hearing about possible impending bans and listening to some of the junk science which seemed to be fuelling the proposed regulations, decided that it was time to try to do something about it. Assisted with various studies in central Scotland surrounding vaping. Currently involved in getting free e-cigs out to those that need them and helping people make the switch. Former trustee and now an active associate of the NNA UK.

I subsequently wrote about the webinar - Consumer voices unleashed! - quoting him as follows:

“Vaping for me is more pleasurable [than smoking] because of all the different flavours you can have.

“A lot of people do slip back in to smoking because they don't understand how to combat the side effects [of vaping] but health wise I've never felt better.

“If anyone expresses an interest [in vaping] and want to carry it forward I'll help them but I'm not into coercion at all ... It's each to their own as far as I'm concerned.”

After the webinar, in July 2021, he emailed to say:

What a thoroughly enjoyable event with some terrific panellists – It was a pleasure to be part of it all. Should you need me in future, please don’t hesitate to give me a shout.

Our shared interest however wasn’t smoking, vaping, or even nicotine - it was football, because we both supported Scottish football clubs.

Andy supported Greenock Morton, while I follow Dundee United, and in the 2017/18 season, following United’s relegation, our teams found themselves in the same division.

Furthermore, we were both at Tannadice on January 27, 2018, when Morton beat United 3-0, which was arguably the worst performance I had seen from a United team in 50 years.

After the match Andy and his mates celebrated with a curry at the Tayview Indian restaurant, which he told me was his favourite Indian restaurant in Dundee.

When United were finally promoted after four seasons in the second tier, he wrote:

Good luck to the Tangerines for the upcoming season. I doubt our paths will cross unless it’s in one of the cups. If that happens, perhaps we could hook up for a couple of jars.

It was a typically generous comment but he was right. In recent years, and in the absence of any cup matches, our paths didn’t cross and that was the last time I heard from him.

RIP, Andy, and sincere condolences to family and friends.

Below: Andy taking part in a Forest webinar in 2021. An ex-RAF man, he chose his own background image but there were some technical issues. In the words of the late John Mallon (Forest’s equally plain speaking man in Ireland who took the screen shot), “His green screen is shite”. Knowing John, and to a lesser extent Andy, I would like to think they are now having a couple of jars together.

PS. I discovered last night that ‘ardent fan’ Andy Morrison was once banned from Cappielow (Morton’s home ground) for allegedly starting a rumour that Morton were to merge with their local rivals St Mirren!

According to reports, Andy denied the allegation and vowed to fight the ‘shock lifetime ban’, telling the local newspaper:

“Basically [chairman] Hugh Scott told us to stop attacking the club. There were a few disagreements but I think the situation is resolvable. It’s a step forward.”

To put this in perspective, Scott was a hugely controversial chairman from 1997 to the early Noughties and Andy wasn’t alone in criticising the running of the club at that time.

Typically, though, he wasn’t deterred by the ‘lifetime’ ban imposed on him. “I will be back for the next home game, come what may,” he told one journalist. And indeed he was.

Labouring in Liverpool

Just back from the Labour conference in Liverpool.

Not much to report, if I’m honest. I was there on Monday and Tuesday but Monday was a bit of a washout - literally.

The heavens opened and I got absolutely soaked walking from one venue to another.

I had intended going to a couple of fringe meetings outside the conference zone but it was raining so hard I thought better of it.

On Monday the atmosphere matched the weather. Considering that Labour won a landslide victory in the general election barely seven weeks ago, things were pretty muted.

The weather was better on Tuesday but it was Kier Starmer’s speech that seemed to change the mood, briefly at least.

I watched it on a big screen on the upper floor of the Arena and Convention Centre (ACC).

Initially it sounded pretty dull and formulaic to my ears, and most of the people around me were more interested in looking at their phones and tablets.

Eventually however the PM got into his stride and the speech came to a rousing climax, with party members in the main hall cheering and appluading.

By now those around me had stopped staring at their own screens and were watching Starmer on the big screen above us.

After the speech ended and delegates starting pouring out of the ACC, there was a noticeable buzz and energy that hadn’t been there before.

I had arranged to meet some people in the Pullman Hotel (within the security zone) and the atmosphere in the coffee lounge/reception area had changed considerably from earlier in the day so it would be ungracious, and wrong, to say the speech didn’t deliver on some level.

The target audience, though, was clearly those present in the hall - loyal Labour Party members - so I suspect that any boost to the Government will be short-lived unless the PM actually starts delivering on the enormous list of promises he made.

I had gone to Liverpool hoping that one or two fringe meetings might address, even in passing, the generational tobacco ban, but the only one I attended that did was a meeting organised by Total Politics (supported by JTI) that featured a panel of retailers and one MP.

The problems that already face small shopkeepers – notably shoplifting and the threat of violence, and the lack of action from the police – was pretty hard to listen to.

Adding to these issues by expecting them to enforce a generational tobacco sales ban is beyond belief, and that came across loud and clear.

As for the Government’s widely publicised plan for an outdoor smoking ban, there was little or no mention of it in any fringe meeting that I was aware of.

Had the idea been included in Labour’s election manifesto we would have organised our own fringe meeting to discuss the issue, but the plan was only leaked four weeks ago and the deadline for fringe events was the end of July.

Addressing delegates yesterday morning, however, health secretary Wes Streeting repeated his pledge to consult with the British public on banning smoking in beer gardens, whilst also confirming his commitment to eradicate smoking by ‘helping’ smokers quit.

Speaking to a number of delegates at conference it was clear that an outdoor smoking ban is not high on their list of priorities - in fact, it’s not on their list of priorities at all - but although some are strongly against the idea I suspect that very few are willing to oppose their own government so soon after the election.

One person I didn’t expect to see at a Labour conference was Matthew Elliot, founder of the TaxPayers’ Alliance and Big Brother Watch, chief executive of Vote Leave, and now (thanks to Liz Truss) a Conservative peer (Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell).

He explained that he has launched a new charity, the Jobs Foundation, 'that champions the role of business as a force for good'.

I wish him luck, especially under a Labour Government that wants the state to control large chunks of our lives, and whose supporters cheered lustily when their leader announced that Britain's trains would be brought back into public ownership.

I bumped into Lord Elliott at the top of a crowded escalator, which brings me to something else.

In my view the conference venue was too small for an election-winning party, because finding a quiet corner or somewhere to sit down and work was quite a challenge.

The public areas in the two hotels within the secure zone were too busy, and there were not enough seats in the ACC so people were forced to sit on the floor or, if a meeting room (or pod) was full, stand.

I know conference venues have to be booked years in advance so perhaps Labour didn’t expect to be in government in 2024.

Either way, and aside from the filthy weather on Monday, it made my two days in Liverpool a rather uncomfortable experience.

Anyway, the political circus moves on to Birmingham next week when the Conservatives are in town, and I suspect that finding a seat or a quiet corner in the International Conference Centre (ICC) won't be a problem, to say the least.

PS. During Keir Starmer’s speech on Tuesday no-one around me seemed to notice his ‘sausages’ gaffe in real time.

It was only when we saw it mentioned on social media - and subsequently confirmed by those who could replay the moment - that we were aware that anything untoward had happened.

It was however a rare humorous moment in what, for the most part, was a professional but surprisingly sombre conference.

Fab-u-lous - Forest at the Cavern Club (and Five Live came too)

I’m about to drive to Liverpool (via Chester) for the Labour Party conference.

I’m going merely as an observer, to see what’s occurring, and to get some feedback from delegates on the Government’s plan to ban smoking in beer gardens and other outdoor spaces.

I’ve attended Labour conferences since then but the last time Forest organised an event at a Labour conference was in 2011 when we co-hosted a fringe event at the famous Cavern Club.

To be strictly accurate, the current Cavern Club is actually a replica of the club where The Beatles performed in the early Sixties, but it’s on the same site so it’s as close as you can get to the original which was demolished, I think, in the Eighties.

Thirteen years ago we were still promoting the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign whose goal was an amendment to the smoking ban that would have allowed separate smoking rooms in pubs and clubs.

We knew it was a long shot, but our other aim was to stop the smoking ban being extended to outdoor areas such as pub doorways and beer gardens, which Labour had threatened to do before the 2010 election.

The Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign was supported by the Clubs and Institute Union which represents working men’s clubs, so I suggested that the CIU co-host the conference event because it would attract more delegates than an event hosted exclusively by Forest.

I was nervous however because the Cavern Club is a 15-minute walk from the conference centre and hotels where many delegates were staying, and if the weather was bad (like today!) it would have deterred people from coming.

Thankfully that didn’t happen and it ending up being one of the most successful and enjoyable events we have ever organised. I wrote about it here but it’s worth republishing in full (see below).

Above: former publican Nick Hogan addresses guests at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in September 2011

How fab was that?

A trickle of guests became a flood as over 200 people attended last night's Save Our Pubs & Clubs event at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

Five Live Breakfast presenter Nicky Campbell was there too, interviewing guests for this morning's programme. (Did anyone hear it? I was too busy having breakfast!)

The event began with a 50-minute DVD of Paul McCartney playing at the Cavern Club in 1999. It was projected on to the large video wall at the back of the stage. The volume was low enough to allow people to talk but it established the perfect atmosphere.

Then it was time for the speeches. I escorted our speakers backstage and we walked on stage from the wings.

First, I introduced Nick Hogan, well known to readers of this blog. Nick said a few words before I introduced John Tobin, vice president of the Clubs & Institute Union, who said a few more. Both speakers caught the mood of the audience and their (short) speeches were received with cheers and applause.

Highlight of the evening was the Beatles tribute band who played for 60 minutes and were great value for money. Made In Liverpool were genuinely very, very good and the bass player was the spitting image of McCartney. (Unfortunately the illusion was lost when I visited the band in their dressing room and saw them without their wigs!)

Anyway, they got a great reception, including a standing ovation at the end. Songs included 'A Hard Day's Night', 'I Feel Fine', 'Girl', 'Eight Days A Week', 'Twist and Shout' and many more.

Three months ago Dave Jones, owner of the Cavern Club, assured me that an event like this would be a great success. I was keen to do it but with our record at Labour conference I wasn't convinced we would attract a large crowd.

I needn't have worried. Dave was right. We had a capacity audience who not only enjoyed themselves enormously but went home with a serious message (and some great music) ringing in their ears.

PS. Guests included Michael Dugher MP, PPS to the Leader of the Opposition who stayed to the end and told me, on his way out, "That was the best event at the Labour conference".

As I say, it was also the last event we have organised at the Labour conference. I’m not sure how we can better it, but next year, perhaps …

Below: Five Live presenter Nicky Campbell interviews a guest at our Cavern Club event in September 2011. Funnily enough, I remember the exact moment a Five Live producer rang me to register interest in covering the event. It was several weeks earlier and I was in Oxford, walking from a car park, where I had parked my car, to one of the colleges. It had been a risk to organise the event but that call seemed to validate it.

Is the Government reconsidering a ban on smoking outside pubs?

Ministers are said to be ‘backing away from a ban on smoking in pub gardens, saying they will not impose one unless voters want it’.

According to The Times, smoking outside hospitals, schools, and in children’s play areas will almost certainly go ahead, but smoking outside pubs, cafes, and restaurants could be spared following opposition from publicans and ‘many customers’.

While this is good news, it’s far too soon to be complacent. The anti-smoking lobby will do their best to argue that the general public supports a ban on smoking outside pubs, citing YouGov polls (commissioned by ASH), so this could be a ruse to make it look as if the Government is listening to the public rather than imposing its own agenda on the hospitality industry and customers.

That said, I suspect the Government may be a little rattled by the reaction to its plan to extend the smoking ban to pub gardens, with even Guardian columnists responding negatively.

Since the plan was leaked to The Sun three-and-a-half weeks ago landlords and members of the public have been making their views known, and the reaction has been largely negative. Publicans, in particular, have been overwhelmingly critical.

Funnily enough, The Times’ report (Wes Streeting wants ‘national conversation’ before outdoor smoking ban) was published hours after the Morning Advertiser, the pub trade magazine, reported that ‘a version of the smoking ban in pub gardens “will happen”’ and the only question is “what that policy looks like, whether it's absolute or if they include the right level of exceptions”.

‘Right level'? FFS. There is no right level of exemptions because smoking in the open air is not a public health issue. In fact, there is not a shred of evidence that it poses a significant risk to others, including children, which is why ministers quickly changed their tune concerning the threat of passive smoking in the open air to arguing that the policy would ‘encourage’ smokers to quit.

Either way, smoking outside pubs, clubs, cafes and so shouldn’t be a matter for government at all. The only issue should be what’s best for the business, and if some proprietors think a smoking ban is the best option, good luck to them. That’s their choice.

Others however see it differently and want to accommodate smokers and they should be free to do so. Unfortunately the hospitality industry has a poor record when it comes to fighting smoking bans.

When Forest campaigned against the workplace smoking ban 20 years ago we got very little support from the many trade bodies (I think there were 15 or 17 at the time). The two exceptions were the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) and the relatively small Association of Licenced Multiple Retailers (ALMR).

The ALMR later merged with the British Hospitality Association in 2018 to create UKHospitality, which is now the leading voice for the hospitality industry.

I mention this because the chief executive of UKHospitality is Kate Nichols who previously worked for the ALMR alongside Nick Bish, who established the ALMR and ran it for 22 years before stepping down in 2013.

Under Nick Bish the ALMR did its best to fight the smoking ban and we were grateful for their support.

The same, alas, cannot be said of other trade bodies, notably the British Beer and Pub Association whose main concern was ensuring a level playing field for their members.

What this meant was, if a ban was to be introduced it had to be nationwide, not localised, and there could be no exemptions for private members’ clubs, including working men’s clubs.

In practice there never was a level playing field because pubs that didn’t have an outdoor space - many urban inner city pubs, for example - were at a huge disadvantage, which is why many of them closed.

The point is, exemptions should be a last resort, not an initial bargaining tool, and it worries me that the hospitality industry may be privately conceding too much too soon in discussions with ministers.

Despite Labour's enormous majority, there's a huge opportunity to push back on this because, as The Times’ makes clear, there have been many reports of a backlash against the policy.

Granted, the opposition is a bit ragged and uncoordinated at the moment, but that’s no bad thing because the lack of organisation shows how organic it is.

Furthermore, this battle has only just begun and you don't win a war by compromising at the first available opportunity.

I’m pretty sure too that a significant number of Labour MPs will be opposed to the policy, in the same way that many were said to be unhappy with the removal of the winter heating allowance for pensioners.

Unfortunately that didn't translate into votes in the House (only one Labour MP voted against) because it's just too early for Labour MPs to rebel en masse against their own government.

Nevertheless, they will be making their concern known in other ways because all MPs read their local paper and they must be aware of public opinion.

Our job is to reinforce that message. Watch this space.

Friday whinge

According to Euractive, the EU wants to ban smoking and vaping in outdoor areas. Quelle surprise!

The story followed an exclusive report in Euronews that revealed that:

The European Commission will recommend smoking bans in cafe terraces, bus stops, and zoos, and plans also cover nicotine-free products …

I’m not going to labour this but I’ve always said that politicians, unelected bureaucrats, and the public health lobby will never be satisfied with a ban on smoking in public places (indoors and outdoors).

The next target would be vaping - e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.

Despite that, the vaping industry and most vaping advocates have chosen, repeatedly, not to get involved in opposing public smoking bans or say anything that might align themselves with those smokers who (God forbid) don’t want to quit.

The irony is that by remaining silent when plans to ban smoking in outdoor public places are being drawn up, they are inevitably bringing forward the day when vaping will be outlawed in public places too.

Although I support vaping as an alternative to smoking, and will continue to defend vaping in public places as a matter of principle, my contempt for those pro-vaping activists who choose to sit behind their keyboards and say nothing about the latest anti-smoking measures is growing by the day.

Even writing this raises my blood pressure, which is high enough already (two pills a day!).

Perhaps they think the use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco will escape prohibition, but the evidence suggests otherwise.

Even though vaping has not been banned by the UK government in indoor public places, many businesses - including pubs and restaurants - have chosen to ban it anyway, so it’s clear that one ban leads to another, and the same will apply to outdoor spaces as well.

It’s clear too that the overwhelming majority of vaping activists are so myopic, or convinced by their own self-righteousness (many having quit smoking for a ‘safer’ alternative), that they will never publicly oppose a single anti-smoking measure.

In my eyes that makes them anti-smoking and no amount of protestation that they aren’t will persuade me otherwise. Their silence speaks volumes.

What their lack of response to any anti-smoking measure really amounts to, though, is a total betrayal of the one thing many of them claim to support - freedom of choice.

Today, freedom of choice is defined by vaping advocates as the freedom to choose to switch from smoking to reduced risk products. (Restricting flavours, for example, or banning disposable vapes, is an attack on that freedom.)

The idea however that the freedom to choose to smoke is worth defending as well is anathema to most of them.

(I’ve written about this many times, so apologies for repeating myself, but occasionally I need to get it off my chest, and this is one of those days.)

Ironically, the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (originally the Global Tobacco Network Forum before it embraced e-cigarettes and other 'innovative' products) takes place in Athens next week, and looking at the list of speakers I can see only one advocate of the right to smoke, and he’s speaking principally as an investment analyst.

I may return to the subject of the GTNF next week, but I’ve covered that many times before too and I’m not sure I can be bothered any more.

Having supported GTNF for more than a decade, travelling around the world to speak on many panels, it’s sad to see an agenda that fails to mention the two major issues currently facing consumers in the UK (a generational tobacco sales ban) and Europe generally (outdoor smoking bans).

Perhaps they will be raised by one or two speakers, but I wouldn't bet on it. Addressing an adult's right to buy combustible tobacco or smoke in public places doesn't seem to be a priority for GTNF these days.

But, hey, why does my opinion matter? Together with Forest I’m only out there – at all times of day and night – fighting these issues, unlike 99 per cent of this year’s speakers.

The late show

I was on LBC last night.

It was very late, after midnight, when I was interviewed by Ben Kentish about the Government’s plan to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas including beer gardens.

I was told we were going to discuss the backlash, which is still being reported two weeks after the plan was revealed by The Sun, and I prepped to talk about the reaction from publicans, commentators, and politicians such as Labour’s Mary Glindon.

Instead, the discussion stuck to the merits or otherwise of an outdoor ban, with Kentish playing (quite rightly in a single person interview) the part of devil’s advocate.

There were two areas where I came a little unstuck, and began to waffle.

First, he pushed me on why, if I believe that adults should be allowed to smoke (given that it gives many people pleasure), other drugs - such as cannabis, cocaine, and heroin - shouldn’t be legalised or tolerated as well.

It’s a fair point, and one I have always struggled to answer because I am aware of the inconsistency, although I am also aware of the terrible impact heroin addiction can have on individuals and families so I wouldn't like to see heroin, in particular, legalised.

In the limited time we had I restricted myself to saying that, unlike the illegal drugs he mentioned, smoking tobacco isn’t mind altering and doesn’t affect your ability to do your job.

(I could have added, as another example, that you can smoke a cigarette and drive without being a danger to other people, but the same can’t be said of those other drugs.)

He also raised the issue of seatbelts, which were made compulsory by Margaret Thatcher’s government in the Eighties. It’s an old argument but the gist of it is this.

People opposed the compulsory use of seatbelts at the time but few people object to it today because they’ve saved lives, so what’s the problem with banning smoking if that saves lives too by ‘encouraging’ smokers to quit.

Again, I got myself in a bit of a tangle because, while I do think it’s wrong that wearing seatbelts is compulsory, I’m conscious that it makes me sound a bit of a flat Earther to say so and I didn't want to go down that cul-de-sac.

Decades later I don’t think it helps to revisit that debate, so instead I pointed out that wearing a seatbelt doesn’t change your lifestyle in a way that smoking bans do, so the two are not the same.

In truth, the seatbelt law was less of an issue that it might have been because of the gradual adoption of inertia reel seatbelts that allowed for some movement, unlike the early seatbelts that strapped both the driver and front seat passenger firmly in place, rather like the seatbelt on an aeroplane but with an additional immovable strap across your chest.

Anyway, I thought Ben Kentish asked some interesting probing questions that I hadn’t fully anticipated at that time of night!

He did eventually agree/sympathise with one of my points, but I can’t remember what it was. By then it was very late and I just wanted to go to bed!

Coming soon, ONS data on adult smoking habits 2023

The latest Office for National Statistics' data about adult smoking (and vaping) habits in the UK will be published on October 1.

The data for 2022 - including the smoking rate - was released on September 5 last year and according to the ONS:

In 2022, 12.9% of people in the UK aged 18 years and over, or around 6.4 million people, smoked cigarettes.

Of the constituent countries, the lowest proportion of current smokers was in England (12.7%); Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland reported 14.1%, 14.0% and 13.9%, respectively.

In the UK, 14.6% of men smoked compared with 11.2% of women.

People aged 25 to 34 years had the highest proportion of current smokers in the UK (16.3%); those aged 65 years and over had the lowest (8.3%) in 2022.

In Great Britain, 8.7% of Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) respondents, or around 4.5 million adults, said they currently used an e-cigarette daily or occasionally; this is an increase from 2021 where 7.7% of people reported daily or occasional e-cigarette use.

E-cigarette use was highest among those aged 16 to 24 years in Great Britain; the percentage of people in this age of group who were daily or occasional vapers in 2022 has increased to 15.5% compared with 11.1% in 2021.

It will be interesting to see if and how the latest figures are used or even manipulated by government to drive Keir Starmer's anti-smoking policies.

If, for example, the decline in the smoking rate shows signs of stalling, will this encourage the Government to go harder, faster, to reduce the number of adult smokers more quickly?

Alternatively, if the smoking rate continues to fall in line with recent trends, will the Government be emboldened to say the 2030 'smoke free' target is in sight, so let's go harder, faster, to achieve it?

And how will they react to the latest figures on e-cigarette use?

Anything is possible. Either way, I'm sure that ministers will try to spin the data to suit their agenda. In the meantime, watch this space.

PS. By coincidence, October 1 is Hazel Cheeseman's first day as chief executive of ASH. Fancy that!

Why Labour’s outdoor smoking ban plan was no surprise

I’m not sure why anyone should be surprised by Labour’s aggressive lurch towards further nanny state measures.

Just because the party didn’t include outdoor smoking bans or restrictions on fast food advertising in their election manifesto doesn’t mean the intention wasn’t there. They just chose not to mention it.

The only thing that has surprised me is the speed with which Keir Starmer’s Government is pushing ahead with policies that few people - including many Labour MPs - consider a priority.

Haven’t they got better things to do?

For the best part of a decade polls commissioned by Forest have consistently found that, when asked to prioritise ten topical issues, the public has always put tackling smoking, tackling obesity, and tackling misuse of alcohol at the bottom of the list.

Of all the questions we’ve ever asked, this is the one that produces the most consistent response. Despite this, Labour remains wedded to intrusive policies on lifestyle issues, and the evidence has been there for years.

Take the plan to ban smoking outside pubs and in other outdoor areas. This is nothing new. In November 2018 Welsh Labour leadership candidate Mark Drakeford proposed a ban on smoking outside pubs and in town centres in his manifesto.

Duly elected, Drakeford became first minister in Wales and in June 2020 health minister Vaughan Gething declared, in a written statement:

I remain committed to making more of Wales’ public spaces smoke free and intend to progress work in the next Senedd term to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas of cafes and restaurants and city and town centres.

Although the threat gradually receded, that was arguably due to the distractions caused by Covid, not a change of heart by Drakeford or Gething, who succeeded Drakeford as first minister in March this year but was forced to resign a few months later.

You may also remember what happened in England shortly after the first Covid lockdown. In July 2020 the Conservative Government under Boris Johnson sought to help businesses get back on their feet as quickly as possible, so they introduced an emergency Business and Planning Bill that was designed to reduce red tape.

When the Bill got to the House of Lords amendments were tabled, initially by Labour and then by Liberal Democrat peer Lindsay Northover, that would have banned smoking in all new licensed pavement areas outside cafes, pubs, and restaurants.

Although Labour subsequently withdrew their amendment, the Johnson Government was forced to compromise by giving the power to impose a de facto ban on smoking in new licensed pavement areas to local authorities, thereby avoiding a national ban.

In practice it’s worked reasonably well because only a handful of councils have imposed a complete ban, preferring to leave the decision to individual licensees who have a choice. Significantly, though, they include two of the largest Labour-run authorities - Manchester and Newcastle.

That said, we knew the threat hadn’t gone away and last year The Sun reported that ‘Smokers face BAN outside pubs and restaurants under major rule change demanded by officials’.

I wrote about it here, noting that:

In 2020 the [Labour] party grudgingly supported the Government's position [not to ban smoking outside pubs], but that has clearly changed and it's hardly a surprise. Labour, after all, is the party that introduced the indoor smoking ban in Scotland, England, and Wales.

Last night, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, shadow Lords spokesperson for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Transport, told the House:

“Amendment 258 would ensure that smoking and vaping does not impact on others. At the moment, pavement cafés are often marred for non-smokers, who find them difficult to use because smokers tend to see them as their own territory ...

“Going into a pub garden, for example, on a warm summer evening is often a great feature of our life in this country — that is, when it is not marred by rain. But it can also be marred by clouds of cigarette smoke or vape smoke, so we have to think differently about that.

“There is also the issue of the cigarette ends that smokers leave. I have never understood why smokers do not think of cigarette ends as litter. The area outside a pub is often absolutely covered in cigarette ends. So there is the question of having smoke-free areas where there are cafés, pubs and restaurants.”

So there you have it. Labour supports not only a ban on smoking in licensed pavement areas but, judging from Baroness Taylor's remarks, an outdoor ban might also be extended to beer gardens and include vaping.

At the time no-one else seemed to notice Baroness Taylor’s comments but it was clear that if Labour was returned to government smoking outside pubs would come under serious threat.

Anyway, there was an interesting development last week because, aside from further reports of discord among publicans around the country, it was reported that some Labour MPs are opposed to the Government’s plan to ban smoking outside pubs.

Opposition is being led by Mary Glindon, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, who has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) warning that it "will unduly restrict individual liberty where second-hand smoking dangers are negligible".

This followed an article in her local newspaper in which she wrote:

The curb on indoor smoking was seen as legitimate and was easier to enforce but a ban on outdoor smoking would be harder to enforce and not a priority for hard-pressed police officers.

Besides, people have the right to smoke provided they harm no one else. And that can be done outside.

Additionally, driving smokers away from pubs and nightclubs will drive some of them out of business.

Have a thought for those who see smoking as a crutch in a difficult life. Remember older people, particularly single men, who nurse a pint and a tab outdoors and feel less isolated and even looked out for.

It will be interesting to see how many Labour MPs sign her EDM because the key to reversing Kier Starmer’s plan is probably in their hands.

Meanwhile, what of the Tories?

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel and Esther McVey were quick to criticise Labour’s plan, but since then the only comment I’ve seen by a Conservative MP on the subject came from Bob Blackman.

A close associate of ASH (he was chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health in the last Parliament), Blackman last week claimed that ‘failing to include shisha lounges and chewing tobacco, such as paan, in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill would leave “escape clauses”’.

In other words, the man who was recently elected chair of the influential 1922 Committee wants to extend the outdoor smoking ban to shisha cafes as well. (See Tory MP calls for crackdown on shisha lounges.)

To the best of my knowledge, not one of the four remaining candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party has said a single word on the subject.

We know that Kemi Badenoch is opposed to a generational ban on the sale of tobacco because she was the only Cabinet minister to vote against it at the second reading of the previous government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

We know too that Robert Jenrick opposed a ban on smoking in licensed pavement areas because as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government he ‘urged [Manchester] council not to burden businesses with more red tape and to follow the legislation which caters for smoking and non-smoking customers’.

Nevertheless, neither he nor Badenoch appear to have said anything publicly on the subject of a nationwide ban on smoking outside pubs, which is disappointing.

Perhaps they think it might lose them votes in a tight leadership contest, but if that’s the case what does it say about the modern Conservative Party?

On the other hand, I do see some wisdom in allowing this to play out within Labour ranks because nothing the Tories say or do is going to make the slightest difference.

If the plan is dropped it will probably happen only because of pressure within the Labour Party. Whether there’s sufficient opposition to derail the plan remains to be seen.

See also: Keir Starmer faces rebellion from his OWN MPs over outdoor smoking ban in pub gardens and near footy stadiums (The Sun)