According to reports, the UK is set to announce tighter restrictions on smoking outdoors. Ministers have been focusing on smoking for some time, determined to phase out the use of tobacco.
There was news earlier this year that anyone in the UK born in or after 2009 would never legally buy a cigarette, though any changes to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill were scrapped once the general election was called. However, as mentioned in the King’s Speech back in July, in which a number of new laws Keir Starmer’s government wishes to pass were discussed, these plans have been revived – and, if the rumours are true, Keir Starmer is being seriously tough on smoking, with restrictions affecting smokers of all ages.
The new–currently speculative–regulations could mean the ban of smoking in pub gardens, outdoor restaurants, and outside hospitals and sports grounds. So far, these rules are based on supposed leaks of Whitehall papers reported by the Sun, but The Department of Health and Social Care have confirmed that they’re “considering a range of measures to finally make Britain smoke-free”, reiterating that “smoking claims 80,000 lives a year, puts huge pressure on our NHS, and costs taxpayers billions.”
Lord Stewart Wood, a member of the House of Lords, spoke on BBC Newsnight about the story: “There’s a difference between smoking outside and walking in a forest and smoking outside where there are large groups of people, particularly children, concentrated, like restaurants, like pub gardens, like football matches.”
More to follow.