Smoking ban in pub gardens and outdoor venues being considered due to ‘huge burden’ on NHS, Starmer says
A ban on smoking in pub gardens and other outdoor venues is being considered because of the “huge burden” smoking puts on the NHS and the taxpayer, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed.
The prime minister said ministers were looking at banning smoking in other places too, including outdoor restaurants and outside sports venues, hospitals, nightclubs and in some small parks.
Sir Keir confirmed the proposal on Thursday following a leaked report seen by The Sun newspaper.
He said: “My starting point on this is to remind everyone that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year to smoking, that’s a preventable death, it’s a huge burden on the NHS and of course on the taxpayer.
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Smoking ban in pub gardens and outdoor venues being considered, says PM
“So, yes we are going to take decisions in this space. More details will be revealed but this is a preventable cause of deaths and we’ve got to take the action to reduce the burden on the NHS and reduce the burden on the taxpayer.”
The plan has been welcomed by health campaigners who believe the measure would help protect people from the dangers of second-hand smoke.
But the proposal has drawn heavy criticism from others, with accusations of the government imposing on people’s freedoms and being the “final nail in the coffin” of the hospitality industry.
The prime minister was asked about possible smoking bans while on a visit to France. Pic: PA
Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, said: “This raises the critical question: Are we on the brink of becoming a nanny state? What is next?
“While these measures may rightly be driven by public health considerations, they risk dividing opinion and imposing yet another regulatory burden on businesses already facing considerable challenges.
“At a time when our industry desperately needs the freedom to trade, the last thing we need is further barriers.”
Mr Kill said many of the 6.4 million people who smoke in the UK “enjoy doing so in social settings like beer gardens”.
“We must question whether such an approach is truly in the public interest, or whether it risks over-regulation at the cost of personal freedom and business viability,” he added.
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Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said a ban could cause “serious economic harm to hospitality venues” as she cited the “significant” number of pub closures after smoking was banned indoors in 2007 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 2006 in Scotland.
She said it would also affect hotels, cafes and restaurants and called on the government to talk to the hospitality industry before any laws are passed.
“It must also assess whether such a ban would achieve its aims of meaningfully reducing smoking or simply relocate smoking elsewhere, such as in the home,” she added.
A number of Conservative MPs also spoke out against the plan, despite their own plans to curb smoking for younger people, with shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins posting on X: “We want to protect our children from taking up smoking and vaping. Our smoke-free generation legislation was designed to do that.
“Stopping adults from smoking in the open air, however, was not part of our plans. Labour is putting our hospitality sector at risk in the process.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage also told one newspaper he would “never go to the pub again if outdoor smoking was banned”.
But the chief executive of Action on Smoking Health (ASH) Deborah Arnott said: “The priority is to get the bill back in parliament and put on the statute book, to end smoking for the next generation and curb youth vaping.
“ASH would support the inclusion of powers to extend smoke-free laws outdoors, subject to consultation.”
“However, it’s also important to ensure that there are still outdoor areas where people who smoke can smoke in the open air, rather than inside their homes.”
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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks.
“Smoking claims 80,000 lives a year, puts huge pressure on our NHS, and costs taxpayers billions.
“We are determined to protect children and non-smokers from the harms of second-hand smoking.
“We’re considering a range of measures to finally make Britain smoke-free.”
A smoking ban inside of pubs and other enclosed public spaces and work places was brought in by Labour in 2007.
According to ASH, in the year after the new law was imposed, there was a 2.4% reduction in hospital admissions for heart attacks and a 12.3% reduction in hospital admissions for childhood asthma.
Rishi Sunak after he led his party to a landslide election defeat. Pic: PA
This Labour government has previously said it would resurrect Rishi Sunak’s flagship smoking ban, which was shelved before the election.
The King’s speech at July’s opening of Parliament promised to reintroduce the legislation to increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes progressively.
Under the proposed smoking ban, a 14-year-old today will never legally be able to buy a cigarette.
In the speech, Labour also laid out plans to impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes.
It’s like The Godfather, one reformed drug trafficker tells me.
The mythical gangster film centred on an organised crime dynasty locked in a transfer of power.
Communities in Scotland currently have a front row seat to a new war of violence, torture, and taunts as feuding drug lords and notorious families grapple for control of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
There have been more than a dozen brutal attacks over the past six weeks – ranging from fire bombings to attacks on children and gun violence.
A firebomb attack in Scotland
Victims left for dead, businesses up in flames
Gangsters have filmed themselves setting fire to buildings and homes connected to the associates and relatives of their bitter rivals.
The main aim, they boast, is to “exterminate” the opposition.
The taunting footage, accompanied by the song Keep On Running by The Spencer Davis Group, has been plastered over social media as part of a deliberate game of goading.
A 12-year-old boy and 72-year-old woman were left for dead when teenagers wearing balaclavas burst into a home in north Glasgow.
Garages and businesses have gone up in flames. Shots were fired at an Edinburgh house.
Signals are being sent of who wants control of Scotland’s dark criminal underworld.
A firebomb attack that saw a man throw an incendiary device through a building window
The fire attack set to the song Keep On Running by The Spencer Davis Group
What’s caused the gang war?
The former director of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, Graeme Pearson, explains how a “vacuum of leadership” is playing a part.
Last October, Glasgow-based cocaine kingpin Jamie Stevenson, known as The Iceman, was jailed after orchestrating a £100m cocaine shipment stashed in banana boxes from South America.
The mob leader was one of Britain’s most wanted, running his business like another on-screen criminal enterprise: The Sopranos.
The 59-year-old fugitive went on the run before eventually being hunted and apprehended by police while out jogging in the Netherlands.
Jamie Stevenson. Pic: Police Scotland
Pic: Crown Office
‘Old scores to settle’
But paranoia was running rife about how this notorious gangster could be brought down. Was there a grass? Was it one of their own?
It further fuelled divisions and forced new alliances to be forged across Scotland’s organised criminal networks.
It wasn’t until The Iceman case came to court that it was revealed an encrypted messaging platform, known as EncroChat, had been infiltrated by law enforcement.
It ultimately led to Stevenson pleading guilty.
Ex-senior drug enforcement officer Mr Pearson told Sky News: “It is a complex picture because you have got people who are in prison who still want to have influence outside and look after what was their business.
“On the outside you’ve got wannabes who are coming forward, and they think this is an opportunity for them, and you have got others have old scores to settle that they could not settle when crime bosses were around.”
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Graeme Pearson
Mr Pearson describes a toxic mix swirling to create outbursts of violence unfolding in Scotland.
He concluded: “All that mixes together – and the greed for the money that comes from drugs, and from the kudos that comes from being a ‘main man’, and you end up with competition, violence, and the kind of incidents we have seen over the past four to six weeks.”
New wave of violence ‘barbaric’
Glasgow man Mark Dempster is a former addict, dealer, and drug smuggler who is now an author and respected counsellor helping people quit drinking and drugs.
He describes the “jostle for power” as not a new concept among Glasgow’s high profile gangland families.
Mark Dempster
“There is always going to be someone new who wants to control the markets. It is like The Godfather. There is no difference between Scotland, Albania, or India,” he said.
Mr Dempster suggests a shift in tactics in Glasgow and Edinburgh in recent weeks, with 12-year-olds being viciously attacked in the middle of the night.
“It is barbaric. When young people, children, get pulled into the cross fire. It takes it to a different level.
“At least with the old mafiosa they had an unwritten rule that no children, no other family members. You would deal directly with the main people that were your opposition.”
Police Scotland is racing to get control of the situation, but declined to speak to Sky News about its ongoing operation.
It has been suggested 100 officers are working on this case, with “arrests imminent”.
But this is at the very sharp end of sophisticated criminal empires where the police are not feared, there are fierce vendettas and, clearly, power is up for grabs.
UK
Laws may need to be bolstered to crack down on exploitation of child ‘influencers’, senior MP suggests
Laws may need to be strengthened to crack down on the exploitation of child “influencers”, a senior Labour MP has warned.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the science, technology and innovation committee, said parts of the Online Safety Act – passed in October 2023 – may already be “obsolete or inadequate”.
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Experts have raised concerns that there is a lack of provision in industry laws for children who earn money through brand collaborations on social media when compared to child actors and models.
This has led to some children advertising in their underwear on social media, one expert has claimed.
Those working in more traditional entertainment fields are safeguarded by performance laws, which strictly govern the hours a minor can work, the money they earn and who they are accompanied by.
The Child Influencer Project, which has curated the world’s first industry guidelines for the group, has warned of a “large gap in UK law” which is not sufficiently filled by new online safety legislation.
Official portrait of Chi Onwurah.
Pic: UK Parlimeant
The group’s research found that child influencers could be exposed to as many as 20 different risks of harm, including to dignity, identity, family life, education, and their health and safety.
Ms Onwurah told Sky News there needs to be a “much clearer understanding of the nature of child influencers ‘work’ and the legal and regulatory framework around it”.
She said: “The safety and welfare of children are at the heart of the Online Safety Act and rightly so.
“However, as we know in a number of areas the act may already be obsolete or inadequate due to the lack of foresight and rigour of the last government.”
Victoria Collins, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for science, innovation and technology, agreed that regulations “need to keep pace with the times”, with child influencers on social media “protected in the same way” as child actors or models.
“Liberal Democrats would welcome steps to strengthen the Online Safety Act on this front,” she added.
‘Something has to be done’
MPs warned in 2022 that the government should “urgently address the gap in UK child labour and performance regulation that is leaving child influencers without protection”.
They asked for new laws on working hours and conditions, a mandate for the protection of the child’s earnings, a right to erasure and to bring child labour arrangements under the oversight of local authorities.
However, Dr Francis Rees, the principal investigator for the Child Influencer Project, told Sky News that even after the implementation of the Online Safety Act, “there’s still a lot wanting”.
“Something has to be done to make brands more aware of their own duty of care towards kids in this arena,” she said.
Dr Rees added that achieving performances from children on social media “can involve extremely coercive and disruptive practices”.
“We simply have to do more to protect these children who have very little say or understanding of what is really happening. Most are left without a voice and without a choice.”
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The researcher pointed to one particular instance, in which children were advertising an underwear brand on social media.
She said: “The kids in the company’s own marketing material or their own media campaigns are either pulling up the band of the underwear underneath their clothing, or they’re holding the underwear up while they’re fully clothed.
“But whenever you look at any of the sponsored content produced by families with children – mum, dad, and child are in their underwear.”
Dr Rees said it is “night and day” in terms of how companies are behaving when they have responsibility for the material, versus “the lack of responsibility once they hand it over to parents with kids”.
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