Smoking to be banned outside schools and hospitals in England, but pubs get reprieve

The government has dropped plans to outlaw smoking outside pubs and restaurants. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Smoking is to be banned outside schools and hospitals in England as part of a crackdown on one of the UK’s biggest killers and the country’s most common cause of cancer.

But the government has dropped plans to outlaw smoking outside pubs and restaurants, prompting health campaigners to complain about “vested interests” covertly influencing policy.