Power point - the Irish smoking ban 20 years on

They say history is written by the victors and the smoking ban is a good example.

Readers of this blog will be familiar with ‘Smoke and mirrors’, the infamous article written by Deborah Arnott, CEO of ASH, and her sidekick, the late Ian Willmore, in the Guardian in July 2006.

It was a masterpiece of its kind, a step-by-step guide that explained how the authors outfoxed opponents and engineered a ban that was beyond their wildest dreams. It was an article that also introduced us to two campaign strategies - the ‘confidence trick’ and ‘swarm effect’.

Of course, a comprehensive smoking ban would not have happened in England in 2007 had it not been for Scotland opting for a blanket ban in 2006, and the Scottish Government would not have gone for a comprehensive ban had it not been introduced in Ireland in March 2004.

(Famously, a sceptical first minister Jack McConnell flew to Dublin shortly after the ban was enforced and, within hours of meeting two or three carefully chosen pro-ban publicans, returned to Scotland a changed man.)

Today, exactly 20 years since the ban was introduced (a weekend I wrote about here), the Guardian has published an equally celebratory piece, ‘Ireland’s smoking ban 20 years on: how an unheralded civil servant triumphed against big tobacco’:

Tom Power led an alliance that brought about the pioneering health initiative which has since been adopted by more than 70 countries – and has saved countless lives.

According to the paper:

Members of the alliance that ushered in the ban compare Power to an engineer, a guide and a chess grandmaster who anticipated and countered the opponent’s strategy.

I wouldn’t call it a revisionist version of history because Tom Power’s role has been acknowledged before. When he died in 2005, aged 55, his obituary in the Irish Times was headlined ‘Driving force behind the smoking ban’.

Nevertheless, the Irish do like to exaggerate the degree to which the tobacco industry fought the ban. There was opposition, from tobacco companies and the hospitality industry, but recollections vary about the strength of that opposition.

As I remember it, the tobacco industry underestimated the influence a smoking ban in Ireland might have on other countries. My concern was the domino, or snowball, effect that a ban would have on the UK especially, but others saw things differently.

Of far greater concern at that time was the threat of smoking bans in major cities such as New York (where a public smoking ban was introduced in 2003), and London because they were seen as far more influential globally.

Ironically, in 2002, and with a little help from others, we did manage to stop the Greater London Authority from introducing a unilateral New York-style smoking ban in the capital, and with serious resources I like to think we could have put up a similar, consumer-led, fight in Ireland, but it wasn’t to be.

Of course, it suits the anti-smoking lobby to create a David v. Goliath feel to such battles, with individuals such as Tom Power pitted against the combined might of the tobacco and hospitality industries.

But in my experience even multinational industries are vulnerable to a single campaigner/politician/civil servant with drive and passion. (I don't know about Tom Power but more often than not, in the war on tobacco, they are ex-smokers and therefore something of a convert to anti-smoking.)

But that’s another story. Meanwhile, here’s another development, albeit not unexpected.

Twenty years on from the smoking ban, Ireland’s health minister Stephen Donnelly has announced, “The next logical step is to increase the minimum age of sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21, followed by consideration of their phasing out over time.”

According to reports he also wants to ban disposable vapes and ultimately prohibit all e-liquid flavours with the exception of the least popular, tobacco.

It’s interesting that Donnelly should propose raising the age of sale from 18 to 21 before considering a step-by-step generational ban, because it highlights the extreme nature of Rishi Sunak’s policy when even Ireland - the first country to introduce a comprehensive public smoking ban - doesn’t intend to emulate the UK, not yet anyway.

To be clear, I’m firmly against raising the age of sale of tobacco from 18 to 21, but I understand why some people favour it as a less worse option to raising the age of sale by one year every year until no adults can purchase a single tobacco product.

If there is significant opposition to a generational ban among Conservative MPs it’s an obvious compromise for the Government to offer rebellious backbenchers without losing face, but it all hangs on the scale of opposition.

We should learn more on April 16 when the Tobacco and Vapes Bill receives its second reading in the House of Commons. Watch this space.

Update: I am quoted in this Irish Daily Mirror report today – Smoking ban not 'an irrefutable success' says smoking rights group, 20 years after introduction in Ireland.

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

In England, Labour never won a national election after forcing the smoking ban on the public when there was a clear majority that wanted choice.

Almost 20 years later, they have another shot at Government not because the public want them but because the Conservatives deserve an electoral kicking.

If Sunak's plan to criminalise smoking was so popular as manipulated by the anti smoker industry, then instead of currently tanking in the polls, which show they could be in for their worst ever performance, they should be celebrating the prospect of the biggest majority they've ever had.

It may not be the issue of smoking that decides how people vote but for sure culturally, most people in Britain are totally against tin-pot authoritarians telling them what to do.

The Tories have been given so many chances to redress the balance between authoritarian power and libertarian freedom of choice and completely blown it. Now they will reap the punishment they deserve.

It doesn't matter how it's spun 20 years after the fact, the blanket smoking ban was wrong then and it's wrong now.