UK PM supports tougher outdoor smoking rules

[Pelican Press 0]

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*** PM supports tougher outdoor smoking rules

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he supports the idea of banning smoking in some outdoor spaces, including pub gardens, across the ******* Kingdom as a way of reducing the pressure on the state-run National Health Service and the cost to taxpayers.

While precise details would be worked out later, Starmer said 80,000 people **** each year from smoking and he wanted to reduce deaths from preventable *********.

Asked if he supported a ban on smoking in some public places, including pub gardens, Starmer told Channel 4 News: “I want us to move to a smoke-free environment, want to reduce those preventable deaths. I want to reduce the burden on the NHS, desperately needed … and obviously I want to reduce the burden on the taxpayer. So, yes, I am supportive.”

The government is considering a smoking ban in pub and restaurant gardens and ­terraces, outdoor sports stadiums, children’s parks and pavements near hospitals and universities, according to documents seen by The Sun newspaper.

The Labour Party, which won a general election last month, said in its campaign manifesto it planned to introduce some of the world’s strictest anti-smoking rules by banning younger people from smoking.

The previous ************* government had announced similar measures but the plan ******* to become law before the election was called.

The *** banned smoking in almost all enclosed public spaces, including bars and workplaces, in 2007.

******* Research *** said this led to an estimated 1.9 million fewer smokers, and research in the British Medical Journal estimated there were 1200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in the year following.

The ***’s hospitality industry warned a stricter smoking ban could force some businesses to close.

“A ban on smoking in outdoor spaces comes with the prospect of serious economic harm to hospitality venues,” said Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of trade body UKHospitality.

“This ban would not only affect pubs and nightclubs but hotels, cafes and restaurants.”

While health professionals broadly welcomed the prospect of a smoking ban outdoors, others argued that it is an unnecessary intrusion by the state on people’s lifestyle choices and another potential burden on businesses still struggling to recoup the losses during the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent surge in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The number of pub closures increased to 80 per month over the first three months of 2024, up by 51 per cent compared with the same ******* last year, according to official data for England and Wales.

Clive Watson, pub entrepreneur and chairman of Inda pub group, said it was a “bonkers” idea that “will encourage customers to stay at home, meaning there is no health upside”.

About 6.4 million people in the *** were smokers in 2022, the Office for National Statistics has estimated – about 13 per cent of the ****** population.

That is much lower than other ********* countries such as Italy, Germany and France, where between 18 per cent and 23 per cent of adults smoke, according to OECD figures.

The government estimates smoking costs the ***’s health services 17 billion pounds ($A32.87 billion) a year and there is strong support for greater restrictions on smokers from medical and healthcare experts.

with AP

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