The government’s plan to ban smoking in pub gardens and other outdoor venues is a “sensible approach” to help people stop, a minister has said.
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed leaked reports on Thursday his government is considering the smoking ban, which would also include outdoor restaurants and outside sports venues, hospitals, nightclubs, and in some small parks.
The proposal has been criticised by the Conservatives and others as being a breach of people’s freedom, with the government accused of bringing in a nanny state.
But education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith told Sky News it is a “sensible approach” and will help people “reduce their smoking and to cut the 80,000 people who die every year from smoking-related diseases”.
She said a ban would mean there are “fewer places where you can actually smoke” and that would make it “much more likely that people who are direct active smokers will actually want to give up smoking”.
Lady Smith added “it’s not ideological” as there is evidence tens of thousands of people die from smoking each year.
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The hospitality industry has said it will be the “final nail in the coffin” for pubs and restaurants but Lady Smith said the last time she was in government, in 2007, the indoor smoking ban was introduced and hospitality coped.
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“There was a lot of concern at that point about how it was actually going to work” she said.
“I think most people now, including in the hospitality industry, would say our pubs, our restaurants, are much better places because they’re no longer filled with smoke.”
Sir Keir said banning smoking in outdoor areas would relieve a “huge burden” on the NHS and the taxpayer.
“More details will be revealed, but this is a preventable series of deaths, and we’ve got to take the action to reduce the burden on the NHS and reduce the burden on the taxpayer,” he said.
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The government has already committed to continue the Conservatives’ plan to crack down on smoking, in which it would be illegal for anyone born after 2009 to ever buy cigarettes.
Several Tory MPs argued at the time it would limit personal freedom but the Tobacco and Vapes Bill had cross-party support and passed by 383 votes to 67.
A YouGov poll on Thursday suggested 58% of British adults support banning smoking in pub gardens and outside restaurants
It said 35% of people would oppose the measure. YouGov asked 3,715 people on August 29.
