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=SMOKE SIGNALS=

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Good news, we hope.

It was reported on Thursday night ([link removed]) that the Government is to drop its plan to ban smoking outside pubs, including beer gardens.

Nothing has been confirmed but if it’s true it’s a victory for common sense, and everyone who has been arguing against the policy.

We don’t think the issue will go away, though. After all, proposals to extend the smoking ban to outdoor areas have been around for a decade at least, and now have the support of the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty who seems to be on a personal mission to eradicate smoking completely.

Nor does it stop the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland introducing the policy, should they choose to.

In the meantime health secretary Wes Streeting continues to promise a “tougher” version of Rishi Sunak’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill so nothing can be ruled out.

As it happens it's exactly ten years since Boris Johnson was urged, as mayor of London, to ban smoking in the city’s parks ([link removed]) , a suggestion he rejected on the grounds that the plan was too interventionist:

“One of the glories of London is that we are generally pretty laissez-faire about how people live their lives – provided they do not break the law and provided they do no harm to others.

“If we were to consider a ban on smoking in parks, we would need pretty clear evidence that this would have direct health benefits – in other words that it would actually save lives.”

The reality is that, in relation to outdoor smoking bans, no such evidence exists, although that’s never stopped governments in the past.

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The threat of further pub closures has clearly influenced government thinking, but public opinion – as evidenced by a recent poll commissioned by Forest and reported by the Guido Fawkes ([link removed]) website and The Sun ([link removed]) – is clearly divided on the issue with MORE people being AGAINST a ban on smoking outside pubs than in favour.

As for the timing of the Government’s alleged u-turn, can it be coincidence that it was reported just 48 hours after our Smoke On The Water boat party, an event attended by several MPs and dozens of parliamentary aides, including Labour staffers?

Or that one of our speakers was a prominent young Labour activist who opposed the policy on the grounds that it was fundamentally “illiberal”?

We're (half) joking but there's no doubt that events like this (promoted throughout the Westminster village) have their place and, occasionally, some influence.

There are of course other significant challenges ahead of us, notably the ban on the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults, so we will continue to lobby MPs, ministers, and government aides on all these issues.

In the meantime, many thanks to our speakers on Tuesday night: Sam Bidwell, Next Generation Centre at the Adam Smith Institute; Josh Cheshire, national coordinator, Students for Liberty UK; Jonathan Heywood, former secretary, Labour Students; and Reem Ibrahim, Institute of Economic Affairs (pictured below).

Thanks too to everyone else who attended the event – 180 guests in total including MPs, parliamentary researchers, think tank staffers, broadcasters, journalists and, most important, friends of Forest who, as ever, supported the event with their usual good humour.

For the full gallery of photographs, click here ([link removed]) .
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See also: No 10 blocking outdoor smoking ban amid hospitality opposition ([link removed]) (Guardian)
Labour ‘will drop plans for outdoor smoking ban’ ([link removed]) (Telegraph)
Pub garden smoking ban set to be DROPPED by No 10 ([link removed]) (The Sun)
Government refuses to comment on reports of it dropping proposed outdoor smoking ban ([link removed]) (Sky News)
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