Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed the government is looking at tougher rules on outdoor smoking to reduce the number of preventable deaths linked to tobacco use.
Responding to reports that smoking could be banned in some outdoor spaces in England, the prime minister said “we have got to take action” to reduce the burden on the NHS.
The details remain unclear but smoking could be banned in pub gardens, outdoor restaurants, and outside hospitals and sports grounds.
Health experts have welcomed the plans, but BBC has been told that some ministers have raised concerns about the impact the ban could have on the hospitality sector.
Some business owners have already raised concerns. Pub landlady Lisa Burrage, 55, said pubs should be able to choose whether or not to go smoke-free and “it is not up to the government to make that decision”.
“This will be just another hurdle we have to face in hospitality and one we can do without,” Ms Burrage said.
Tony Harding, 57, a publican in Salisbury, said residents who live near his pub would probably not be happy if his punters began smoking and “blocking the pathway in the street, instead of [using] my nice comfortable garden”.
But the PM stressed the health impact in his message.
Tobacco use is the UK’s single biggest preventable cause of death, killing two-thirds of long-term users and causing 80,000 deaths every year.
Health authorities also say there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
Any new ban would apply only to England. It is not yet clear if it would apply to the rest of the UK though devolved governments could choose to bring in similar rules.
When questioned on the proposals, Sir Keir said the government was “going to take decisions in this space” and more details would be revealed.
“I think it’s important to get the balance right,” he said, adding that the NHS was “on its knees”.
The King’s Speech at the state opening of Parliament last month promised to reintroduce legislation proposed by the previous government, which would have outlawed the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 2009.
Health professionals have welcomed the proposals.
Dr Layla McCay of the NHS Confederation told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the plans would reduce “the huge problems that are caused to the individual and to society from smoking.”
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health, said the public expected “not to have to breathe in tobacco smoke in places like children’s play areas and seating areas outside pubs, restaurants and cafés”.
But she added it was important to ensure that there were still outdoor areas for people to “smoke in the open air, rather than inside their homes”.
However, those from the hospitality sector are worried the ban will hurt businesses.
“This needs to be thought through very carefully before we damage businesses and economic growth and jobs,” Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade group UK Hospitality, told the Today programme.
But JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin said: “I don’t think it will have a big effect on our business, one way or another.”
Chief executive of Revolution Bars, Rob Pitchers, said he was not convinced smoking in beer gardens was “prevalent enough to be putting any strain at all on the NHS”.
According to official government data for England and Wales, the number of pub closures over the first three months of 2024 was up 51% compared to the same period in the previous year.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), a leading industry body which represents 20,000 pubs in the UK, said pub numbers had significantly decreased because of factors including the Covid pandemic and energy crisis.
The political opposition, including Conservative leadership contenders, have criticised the proposals as over-regulation.
Priti Patel, the former home secretary, said the plans amounted to “nanny state regulation” that would be “economically damaging”.
Former Home Office Minister Robert Jenrick said: “The last thing this country needs is thousands more pubs closing.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage described the proposals as “government overreach on a scale that is utterly ridiculous”.
“Frankly, if they do this, it will be the death knell of the pub,” he told the BBC.
About 12.9% of people aged 18 and over in the UK – or about 6.4 million people – smoked cigarettes in 2022 according to the most recently available data from the Office for National Statistics.
That is the lowest proportion of current smokers since records began in 2011.
Those aged 25-34 age represent the highest proportion of smokers, while the lowest are those aged 65 and over.
In England alone, smoking caused an estimated 74,600 deaths in 2019, according to NHS England’s latest available data.
There were 408,700 hospital admissions in England due to smoking in 2022-23.
In its guidance about passive or secondhand smoke, Cancer Research UK says all forms of exposure to smoking are “unsafe” while the NHS says secondhand smoke is “a lethal cocktail of more than 4,000 irritants, toxins and cancer-causing substances”.
