Over on the Forest website I've posted an election message. It begins:
We’re not stupid. We know smoking and smokers’ rights aren’t the most important issues in the world and, come the election, it’s natural that voters will focus on a combination of issues – the economy, education, immigration, defence, the NHS and so forth.
Nevertheless the constant harassment of adults who choose to smoke tobacco, a legal product that generates over £10 billion a year in taxation alone (far outweighing the alleged cost of treating smoking-related diseases, estimated at £2.7 billion), is an issue politicians would be wise not to ignore.
The smoking ban, for example, has affected many people’s lives and continues to do so. Many smokers, especially older ones, have stopped going to pubs. Today they smoke and drink at home, often on their own. For many pubs the smoking ban was the final straw. Since the ban was introduced thousands have closed, many in the first year. That has not only destroyed many people's social lives, it has cost thousands of jobs.
Meanwhile successive governments (Labour and the Conservative-Lib Dem Coalition) banned cigarette vending machines, introduced a tobacco display ban and prohibited smoking in private vehicles when children are present.
Next year, following a recent vote in parliament, cigarettes will be sold in standardised or "plain" packaging. At the same time, as a result of the EU’s revised Tobacco Products Directive, there will be larger health warnings on the front and back of cigarette packets and, eventually, the complete prohibition of menthol cigarettes.
These measures not only infantilise every adult, there’s no evidence they will stop children smoking. Instead they’re designed to "denormalise" smoking and, by extension, the consumer in the hope that smokers will be forced to stop or shamed into quitting. Inevitably the public health juggernaut will rumble on and we all know where it’s heading. Prohibition by a thousand cuts.
With regard to the main parties I wrote:
Labour is the party that introduced the smoking ban in Scotland, then England and Wales. The last Labour government banned tobacco vending machines and was also responsible for the legislation that led to the tobacco display ban. Plain packaging and the ban on smoking in cars with children are both the result of Labour pressure. If the party is elected back into government Labour has vowed to introduce a tobacco levy that will almost certainly be passed on to the consumer. Tobacco will become even more expensive and it doesn’t take a genius to predict the outcome – a flourishing black market driven by price.
The Conservatives haven’t specified which tobacco control policies they will introduce next but consider what a Conservative-led government did in the last parliament. First, they went ahead and introduced Labour’s tobacco display ban even though they opposed it in opposition. Under pressure from Labour they introduced legislation banning smoking in cars with children, and in the final weeks of the parliament they pushed through a ban on smoking in private vehicles with children plus regulations on plain packaging. None of these policies was in the 2010 Conservative manifesto.
As a party the Lib Dems did nothing to oppose plain packaging, or the display ban, or the prohibition of smoking in private vehicles. Were we surprised? No. Sadly, with the exception of one or two MPs, there’s nothing liberal about the Liberal Democrats.
In Scotland the SNP is as anti-smoking as any other party. When Nicola Sturgeon was the shadow minister for health in 2002 she introduced a Bill to ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship in Scotland ahead of the rest of the UK. Don’t expect any respite if the party forms a "progressive" alliance with Labour in Westminster. It could get a whole lot worse.
Ukip is the exception when it comes to tobacco but that’s largely due to the influence of Nigel Farage. If Farage fails to win a seat in parliament and steps down as party leader it’s entirely feasible his successor will quietly drop Ukip’s opposition to the smoking ban and other tobacco control policies. It’s happened before and it could happen again.
I then link to information about the voting records of MPs in the last parliament on an amendment to the smoking ban, smoking in private vehicles (where children are present), and standardised packaging of tobacco.
Finally, I direct readers to this blog and my series of "friends" and "foes".
You can read it in full here: Message from our director - smokers are voters too.
PS. I won't be posting any 'friends' or 'foes' today. I'm at Hassop Hall in Derbyshire celebrating my aunt's 90th birthday. Some things take precedence over work!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at 10:00 
