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England bans Public Smoking
14th February 2006
Countdown to blanket ban
On Tuesday 14th February, 2006, a vote took place in the House of Commons, which resulted in a landmark decision to completely ban smoking in all public places in England.
The countdown will now begin for the ban to take effect in mid-2007. Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland will also ban all public smoking from April 2007 and the ban in Scotland will be effective from March 2006.
The ban will make smoking in all enclosed public spaces illegal and will include all pubs, clubs, bars, cafes and restaurants as well as cinemas, theatres, shopping centres, factories, offices, bingo halls and public transport.
Originally only a partial ban was to be introduced which would not apply to private clubs or pubs which do not serve food; however, this complete blanket ban has been favoured eventually.
Premises which ignore the ban and allow smoking to continue within their establishments will face a fine of up to £2,500.00.
Smoking Related Illnesses
Despite the fact that the number of smokers in Britain has halved over the last three decades, smoking still claims over 100,000 lives every year and an opinion poll conducted in 2005 showed that over 70% of the British public favoured a total ban.
Health professionals, cancer charities, trade unions and anti-smoking groups have praised the new law and it has been forecast that approximately 700,000 people will stop smoking altogether as a result of the ban.
The Legal Line has welcomed the complete ban as innocent workers such as bar staff will no longer be exposed to passive smoking at work; which can lead to various illness and diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease.
Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research UK said “This is the most important advance in public health since Sir Richard Doll identified that smoking causes lung cancer 50 years ago”.
Differences of Opinion
Of course, not everyone is in agreement that the complete ban is a good idea. Smokers’ rights groups, ‘Forest’ and ‘The Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association’ said that the ban would remove freedom of choice while various newspapers have described the ban as contributing to the “nanny state”.
In October, 2005, prior to publishing this story, The Legal Line’s Lawyers, Thompsons Solicitors criticised the partial smoking ban and called for a total ban on smoking in Public Places.
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