Smoking Outdoors Around Children Could Be Banned Under Revamped Bill

A man smokes a vape device in Manchester, England, on May 30, 2023. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Smoking and vaping in playgrounds and outside schools could be banned, although the government has rowed back on its controversial proposal to make smoking in pub beer gardens illegal.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the hospitality industry has “taken a real battering in recent years” and it is not “the right time” to ban smoking outside pubs, as was mooted earlier this year.

He said, however, that smoking and vaping could be banned in other public places in England under Labour’s beefed-up version of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which was introduced to Parliament on Tuesday.

In Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, where health is a devolved matter, it is already an offence to smoke on NHS hospital grounds. The new plans would see this also introduced in England.

Suggestion ‘Leaked’

Streeting told Times Radio the suggestion there would be a smoking ban outside pubs had been leaked to the media.

He said: “One of the happy consequences of a government leak, which is exactly what happened over the course of the summer in terms of the discussions we were having on outdoor hospitality, is that we were effectively able to start the debate on it and start the consultation on it early.

“One of the things that we have to weigh up—and we’ll be weighing up when it comes to public health—the upside benefits in terms of benefits to public health and any downside risks, particularly in terms of people’s liberties and livelihoods.

“And I think it is no secret that UK hospitality has had a battering in recent years with the pandemic, and also the challenges in the economy and in people’s pockets means that there’s an ongoing challenge.

“So we judged that on balance, this wasn’t the right time to go ahead with an outdoor ban, so we’re not going to be consulting on that.”

A ‘Cynical’ Industry

On the marketing and the packaging of vapes, Streeting said the government would clamp down on their appeal to children following a huge surge in the number of young people taking up the habit having never smoked traditional cigarettes.

He said: “[This] is also about the marketing, the packaging, the flavours of vapes—this is a cynical industry that has sought to addict a new generation of children to nicotine.”

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, argued the case in The Times of London for smoking bans in outdoor spaces.

Whitty said the “concentrations of toxic chemicals” from tobacco could be high even when outside or in covered outdoor areas.

He wrote: “Outdoor spaces generally have lower concentrations of the toxic chemicals from tobacco than indoor spaces.

“But studies show they can still be significant, near or downwind of smoking, or in areas like a walled or covered outdoor space.

“If you can smell smoke, you are inhaling it in appreciable amounts.”

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will prevent anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009 from legally smoking by gradually raising the age at which tobacco can be bought.

Undated photo of a beer garden at the 17th century The Black Horse Pub, in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England. PA

Libertarian and Practical Objections

When former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak introduced the Tory version of the bill earlier this year, it was criticised by a number of backbench MPs—mainly Conservatives but some from other parties—on both libertarian grounds and on grounds of practicality, with some questioning how it would be enforced in practice.

While it does not seek to criminalise the act of smoking, the bill will create a system where those born just before the cut-off date will be able to legally buy tobacco products, while their marginally younger peers will not.

The bill will also introduce restrictions on vape advertising and sponsorship, as well as restricting flavours, displays, and the packaging of e-cigarettes to reduce their appeal to children and young people.

Disposable vapes will be banned from June 1, 2025 under separate environmental legislation.

Health charities have welcomed the bill, which will be subject to consultation for several months.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said: “The rumoured ban on smoking in outdoor areas understandably caused angst amongst hospitality businesses, who were concerned that it would impact trade and undermine their investments in creating outdoor spaces for customers.

“While we’re yet to see the detail, this initial confirmation that hospitality won’t be included is positive.

“Now is not the time for further cost to be added to businesses and we’re pleased the government has listened to, and acted on, the sector’s concerns.”

The bill will now proceed to its second reading before scrutiny and amendments. With a large Labour majority in the House of Commons, it is expected to eventually pass into law.