Hospitality bosses and health leaders clash over outdoor smoking ban amid fears for struggling pub industry
30 August 2024, 00:18
Health leaders and hospitality business owners have clashed over the government's proposed ban on cigarettes in pub gardens and other outdoor areas.
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Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the measure was being proposed to prevent unnecessary deaths and reduce the burden on the NHS, adding that more than 80,000 people die as a result of smoking every year.
Javed Khan, who led a 2022 review into 'making smoking obsolete' by 2030, told LBC's Ben Kentish that the move would be "a natural next step" in eliminating cigarette use entirely, adding that it would save lives.
Mr Khan also said that concerns raised by people representing the hospitality industry on the effects on their business of such a ban were ill-founded.
Thousands of pubs have closed since smoking was banned indoors in 2007, and some attribute this in large part to the smoking ban. Others say a decline in drinking, increase in tax, and the 2008 financial crash also played a large part.
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Mr Khan said of the indoor smoking ban: "Much of the industry came out and said, the end is nigh. You know, we will disappear. Our businesses will collapse. There were all kinds of soothsayers, all of which was proven wrong. None of that happened.
"It had a dramatic effect on the number of people wanting to smoke and those who felt there was okay to smoke. And that's why we're in the position now where smokers are down to about six million people in the country, but six million is still too high.
"Another way of picturing this is that we're now in the last 100 metres of a marathon. This is the toughest bit of trying to stop those people from smoking and trying to stop the impact of their smoking on others who have done nothing wrong, right?"
Mr Khan said that banning smoking in places such as pub gardens would be "a step in the right direction."
He added: "It's a natural next step to try and stop smokers from impacting other people who are just having a drink or eating some food outdoors."
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Meanwhile Dr Sharon Cox, a tobacco researcher at UCL, said that a ban may not have such a big impact as feared.
She told LBC: "We're living in a changing world, people want to go out and have a different type of night time economy, and we need to embrace that and not be looking to a behaviour which we know and have decades of evidence is actively harmful."
The NHS also welcomed the possible move. Layla McCay of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts, said health leaders were "really keen to see various measures taken to reduce smoking in the population, because that will just be so good for people, so good for health, so good for the health system, so good for the economy."
She added: "We know that the previous government and the current government have been very much behind getting Britain to become a smoke-free country.
"In order to become that, you can't just snap your fingers and become a smoke-free country. There are lots of steps along the way on that journey".
But Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said earlier that the plan had "understandably caused concern across the sector" and asked if the UK risked becoming a "nanny state".
He added: "While these measures may rightly be driven by public health considerations, they risk dividing opinion and imposing yet another regulatory burden on businesses already facing considerable challenges.
"At a time when our industry desperately needs the freedom to trade, the last thing we need is further barriers."
One pub chain leader said the plan was "absolutely crazy".
Brian Whiting, the MD of WH Pubs, said: "I've never smoked myself in my life, so I'm but what I want is people to have the freedom to be able to do it... it's become ridiculous. You know, the times we had to police the pubs during Covid, six people on the table, you can't laugh, you can't sing, you can't do this.
"We became the fun police. So is this the idea that we just become the fun police when you go out to a pub? It's absolutely ridiculous."
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And some said they were unsure of how the plan would work in practice.
Sharon Woodhouse, who runs a pub in Warwickshire, said: "It would be very difficult, just in terms of the fact that smokers are quite committed to smoking.
"So if they want to do it, they'll find a way, whether that's surreptitiously doing it when no one else is looking or filtering off into the car park or roadside."
Speaking earlier on Thursday, Starmer said details of the legislation will be set out but according to reports, ministers are looking at extending the ban to pub gardens, outside hospitals, and even stadiums too
It is thought cigarette smoking could also be banned outside football stadiums, in outdoor restaurants, open-air spaces at nightclubs, and pavements by them, according to the plans.
The activity could also come to an end outside universities, hospitals, sports grounds, children's play areas and small parks could also be barred.
However, private homes and large open spaces such as parks and streets would not be affected by the new legislation.
The plans are set to be revealed as part of a strengthened Tobacco and Vapes Bill proposed by Rishi Sunak, according to the Sun.
Labour did not include these plans as part of their manifesto in the General Election, saying only that they would honour the Conservatives' plan to phase out smoking gradually by continually raising the legal smoking age.
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The plan is said to have caused dispute in the government, with some concerned about the potential impact of the extended ban on pubs and restaurants.
But others are said to have pointed to the billions that smoking costs the taxpayer each year, as well as the huge health impact.
Over six million people in the UK are still believed to be smokers. The NHS has warned of the danger of passive smoking to non-smokers, especially children.
A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks.
"Smoking claims 80,000 lives a year, puts huge pressure on our NHS and costs taxpayers billions.
“We are determined to protect children and non-smokers from second-hand smoking.
"We’re considering a range of measures to finally make Britain smoke-free.”
