Rumours that the government is set to drop plans to ban smoking outside pubs have been welcomed by a Newcastle MP.
Proposals emerged earlier this year that suggested Labour would ban smoking in outdoor spaces, including pub beer gardens and outside restaurants, as part of efforts to improve public health.
But the scheme sparked a backlash from the hospitality trade and warnings that it posed a threat to the viability of venues.
The Guardian has now reported that Downing Street is now blocking the policy from being included in the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes bill, citing one official who called it an “unserious policy”.
Mary Glindon, the Labour MP for Newcastle East and Wallsend, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it would be “wise” for the government to abandon the idea and that she feared it would lead to pubs shutting down.
Mrs Glindon said: “Reports that a ban on outdoor smoking at pubs is not going ahead are very welcome. I’m not a smoker myself but people who like a pint and a tab outside are not harming those who don’t smoke. I was also worried from the beginning that many pubs would go under. It’s wise to abandon the ban.”
Trade body UKHospitality has warned that the ban would risk “serious economic harm to hospitality venues” and “not only affect pubs and nightclubs, but hotels, cafes and restaurants that have all invested significantly in good faith in outdoor spaces and continue to face financial challenges”.
However, health experts have backed the idea. North East anti-smoking campaign Fresh previously said there was a “role for smokefree outdoors spaces” in reducing the harm from breathing in second hand tobacco smoke.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was previously tabled under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration, seeking to gradually reduce the age at which tobacco could be purchased so that nobody born since 2009 would ever be able to legally smoke.
Labour included the bill in the King’s Speech this summer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting said earlier this week that Labour’s anti-smoking plans will be “more ambitious” than those put forward by the Tories.
