Labour insists it is “not attacking the hospitality industry” with proposed plans to ban outdoor smoking.
Yet reports over the weekend revealed that the authoritarian measure would not only damage pub trade but could even put pub staff at risk of violence.
This claim splashed on the latest edition of The Sunday Express, which quoted solicitor Suraj Desor as saying that “such a ban could … result in crowds congregating at the last moment before entering pubs or football stadiums for one last cigarette, which may lead to issues of nuisance or public safety.
It’s likely to be quite challenging to police. Premises will have to retrain staff and you may have a situation where staff are monitoring outside areas in addition to their existing obligations.
Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, added that businesses could be “confronted with the possibility of the burden of asking staff to intervene [against drunken, smoking punters] or regulate, implementing costly systems and additional training.”
Not that these concerns will stop Labour figures from implementing their plans. “They’re obviously determined to close the last of the British pubs down,” said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as he continued his protest against proposals.
There has been, said Labour’s Commons leader Lucy Powell, “a consensus for a long time now that we want to see a smoke-free country.”
Not among landlords, of course, who are already under enough pressure to prevent their boozers being closed down and converted into supermarkets, DIY stores, takeaways and mosques.
But one questionable poll in The Sun over the weekend had 60% of respondents saying a ban will put landlords at greater risk of going bust, and 50% saying they do support an outdoor smoking ban. Make that make sense.
Similarly restrictive measures are being adopted in Ireland, too, where the government is pushing the legal age of sale of tobacco up to 21.
