The skills minister, Jacqui Smith, has confirmed the government’s proposed outdoor smoking ban would mean “fewer places where you actually can smoke” as she claimed the habit was the “biggest nail in the coffin of most people in this country”.
The proposals would potentially prohibit tobacco use outside pubs and restaurants, including on pavements. The restrictions would come on top of existing plans to gradually outlaw smoking year by year. The measures would apply only to England because public health is devolved. Other nations would decide if they wanted to follow suit.
Speaking to Sky News on Friday, Smith said the ban would aim to make “fewer places where you actually can smoke”.
She said the proposed ban, in conjunction with previously announced plans to bar those born after 2009 from buying cigarettes, would “make it much more likely that people who are direct active smokers will actually want to give up smoking”, safeguarding their health and the NHS.
Reem Ibrahim, the acting director of communications at the rightwing Institute of Economic Affairs thinktank, said this week that banning outdoor smoking would be “another nail in the coffin for the pub industry”.
But Smith told Sky News: “The biggest nail in the coffin of most people in this country is smoking – 80,000 people die every year from smoking-related diseases.”
Office for National Statistics figures from last year showed dementia as the leading cause of death in England and Wales but smoking was a leading cause of preventable illness and death.
NHS data from 2020 showed there were more than 506,100 hospital admissions and 74,800 deaths attributed to the habit among adults aged 35 between April 2019 to March 2020.
Smith added: “I think most people now, including in the hospitality industry, would say our pubs, our restaurants, are much better places because they are no longer filled with smoke.”
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has found himself at odds with the hospitality industry after signalling he supported the plans. Key figures in the sector said they were concerned the measures could prompt renewed uncertainty in an industry that had suffered “massively” since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, which represents thousands of pubs, restaurants and cafes, said a ban raised the prospect of “serious economic harm” to venues.
“You only have to look back to the significant pub closures we saw after the indoor smoking ban to see the potential impact it could have,” she said.
Nicholls called on the government to hold a “detailed conversation” with affected parties on the potential impact of such a ban before any legislation was put in place.
However, health experts have welcomed the ban. Dr Layla McCay, the director of policy at the NHS Confederation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday: “We are heartened to see that progress is being made and that the intention is moving forward to really address one of Britain’s main drivers of health inequalities.”
While the proposal to gradually outlaw smoking was devised under Rishi Sunak before he called the general election, the Conservatives have argued restrictions on outdoor smoking are about “social control”, with Priti Patel – who is standing to replace Sunak as Tory leader – calling them “beyond stupid”.
YouGov polling carried out on Thursday showed 58% of people backed the idea compared with 35% who did not. The figures were virtually identical for Conservative voters alone.
