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.
