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** 03 June 2021
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** UK
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** English councils start banning smoking outside pubs and restaurants (#1)
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** 59% of people think the UK should ban smoking in outdoor places, Twitter poll reveals (#2)
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** Media misreads Oxfordshire smokefree plans (#3)
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** International
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** The Republic of Ireland could ban smoking outside pubs and restaurants (#4)
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** Egypt amends tender terms for cigarette-making licence-document (#5)
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** UK
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**
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** Five local authorities have banned smoking outside pubs, cafes and restaurants, with others now considering joining them as the government tries to make the country smokefree in less than a decade.

Last summer, there was an attempt to push through an amendment to legislation in the House of Lords to make pavements smokefree, but it failed. However, Northumberland County Council, Durham, North Tyneside, Newcastle, and the City of Manchester have banned smoking on stretches of the pavement where bars, restaurants and cafes are licensed to put out tables. Although it does not have a policy, Gateshead’s licences also stipulate that pavement cafes must be smokefree.

Oxfordshire County Council is also considering banning smoking from outdoor restaurants as part of a major strategy that aims to make the county smokefree by 2025, five years ahead of the government’s plan for England as a whole. It also plans to take tougher action to stop the sale of tobacco to under-18s and work to discourage smoking in homes, cars, play parks and at the school gates. The ban on smoking in public places indoors was credited with a big drop in tobacco use in the UK. There are concerns that allowing smoking in outdoor cafes will renormalise the use of cigarettes after a meal or with a drink, especially for those who may have stopped but are tempted to return to smoking out of anxiety and mental health issues relating to Covid and lockdowns.

Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of ASH, said the pavement bans were popular with most customers. “Our surveys show that two-thirds of the public want areas outside pubs and cafes to be smoke-free. It is not like this is not on anyone’s radar. People complain a lot that if they go outside, they have to sit among smokers.”

Pro-smoking campaigners have said those who object should sit indoors. “But people want to sit outside. They feel safer outside,” said Arnott.

The interest in smoke-free pavements comes before the publication of the latest tobacco control plan by the government, which is expected later this year. Campaigners hope for tough new measures to control smoking and help people quit. England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, has warned that the impact of tobacco is worse than Covid. Smoking had probably killed more people than Covid in the same period, he said. Generally, tobacco is estimated to kill 90,000 people a year in the UK.

Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2021

See also: The Sun - Six more regions ban smoking outside pubs and restaurants in bid to go smoke-free by 2025 ([link removed] )

BBC Radio 4 – Deborah Arnott discusses the role that smokefree pavement licences can play in helping smokers to quit and prevent harm caused by secondhand smoke.
(listen from 1:44:00 to 1:47:34); available for 28 days - Listen Here. ([link removed] )
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** A poll on Twitter carried out by Lad Bible has found that a majority of people support banning smoking in outdoor places. This follows the news that Oxfordshire County Council is considering banning smoking from outdoor restaurants as part of a strategy that aims to make the county smokefree by 2025.

The result shows that about 59.1% of the 11,500 people who participated in the poll want the entire UK to follow Oxfordshire’s example, while 40.9% said the UK should not ban smoking outside.

One person said: “It’s horrible to have to inhale poisons to go in in a pub or coffee shop. I can’t work in these places because the smoke causes instant coughing and sore throat as well as breathlessness. Even a split-second exposure does it.”

Another person wrote: “I think that it should be banned in like town centres (such as the main high street) and outside buildings like hotels and pubs unless in the designated smoking area of a pub garden. Especially away from the kids play frame etc. So that non-smokers don’t have to inhale the smoke.”

Source: Lad Bible, 2 June 2021
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** Local Government Chronicle (LGC) reporter Mark Smulian writes that plans to make Oxfordshire smokefree by 2025 have been overblown by the media.

He states that a straightforward report in the Oxford Mail highlighting that Oxfordshire’s Health Improvement Partnership Board is considering strategies to make Oxfordshire smokefree by 2025 has been misinterpreted by the media to mean that the Council is set to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas and outside workplaces imminently. Smulian refers to a council statement saying that the move would not even be within the Council’s power but “would be ultimately the responsibility of our individual district councils in Oxfordshire.”

The County’s statement also said: “Oxfordshire has set itself an ambitious aim to be smoke-free by 2025. Creating healthy smoke-free environments – including considering proposals for hospitality outdoor seating to be 100% smoke-free – is just one small part of a wider range of county-wide plans. At present, there are no timeframes for smoke-free pavement licensing proposals and nothing have yet been agreed.”

Smulian notes that there was support from tobacco control organisation ASH, whose policy director Hazel Cheeseman said: “The tobacco epidemic has been with us for decades and has taken thousands upon thousands of lives. But ending it is now within grasp. Oxfordshire are playing their part with a clear vision and a workable plan. They have rightly taken a comprehensive approach; this is not a single measure strategy.”

Source: LGC, 2 June 2021
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** International
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** Ireland’s government is being urged to ban smoking outside pubs, restaurants, and cafes just a few days before the hospitality sector opens again. The move could see “smoking areas” vanish from outdoor public spaces, such as pubs, offices and parks, within the next few years, while the introduction of “smoke-free environments” are being considered.

Chris Macey, head of advocacy with the Irish Heart Foundation, which is pushing for the ban, said: “The Irish Heart Foundation has written to Government urging that smoking is prohibited in all outdoor areas of pubs and restaurants as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

“We are also campaigning for outdoor smoking bans in parks, playgrounds, college campuses and State-run facilities to safeguard [the] health and further denormalise smoking.”

Source: Irish Post, 2 June 2021
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** Egyptian authorities have presented an amended invitation for tobacco companies to bid for a licence to manufacture cigarettes after four firms – including Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco – complained the terms were too narrow and would give the winner an unfair advantage over its competitors.

The license could end a decades-old monopoly by the state-controlled Eastern Company, which has a 70% market share.

Under the new terms sent to tobacco companies on June 1, the winning bidder should agree to produce 1 billion cigarettes per year instead of 15 billion per year.

Source: Reuters, 2 June 2021
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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