A big U-turn
The government has decided to scrap the planned ban on smoking outside pubs, citing the health of the high street as the key reason.
The Labour government has been trying to implement changes to help ease pressure on the health system, with bans on smoking and vaping coming into effect in varying capacities.
One of these new rules was to prohibit smoking outside pubs, however, Westminster has since made a U-turn on the matter.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he didn’t want to cause further harm to the hospitality industry, adding that “people don’t want to see their high streets going down the pan”.
However, the government still plan on making it illegal to smoke in children’s playgrounds and outside schools and hospitals to protect children and the most vulnerable from the harms of second-hand smoke.
However, it’s not clear how that would work in practice.
Meanwhile, the potentially generation-defining change to the updated Tobacco and Vapes Bill comes is the decision to make it illegal for anyone currently aged 15 or under to ever buy cigarettes in the UK.
Streeting said that the eventual decision to continue to allow smoking outside pubs was based on discussions with the hospitality sector over the summer.
“There are lots of things that we can and will do on public health that don’t impact on people’s liberties or people’s livelihoods,” he told the Today programme on Radio 4.
A ban on the sale of singe-use disposable vapes has also been announced and will be enforced from next June in England and Wales.
