Keir Starmer has faced a furious backlash after it was revealed he is plotting an outdoor smoking ban that would bar Britons from lighting up in pub gardens, near football grounds and even outside nightclubs.
Pavements beside universities and hospitals are also expected to be made smoke-free zones – with shisha bars also facing the axe, as the new Labour government cracks down on cigarettes even more strictly than Rishi Sunak intended.
The proposals have prompted accusations of ‘nanny state’ politics and warnings Britain’s already-beleaguered hospitality sector will suffer.
Secret Whitehall documents outlining the idea, leaked to the Sun, have been blasted by MPs who say the plan could sound the death knell for Britain’s boozers.
Slamming the mooted clampdown, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage forecast: ‘It will be the end of pubs.’
It comes under a bill that was first introduced by former Prime Minister Mr Sunak – which was a plan to phase out all smoking. But the King’s Speech delivered after Labour won July’s general election made no mention of an outdoor ban.
People would still be allowed to smoke in their own homes and large open spaces, like streets and parks.
But other locations are said to be grey areas and still under discussion – including beaches and enclosed, popular parks.
The report also mentions vape-free zones, although it is unclear whether the ban could also include e-cigarettes.
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick added: ‘The last thing this country needs is thousands more pubs closing.
‘Our country faces huge challenges. Why is Starmer focusing on this nonsense?’
And fellow contender Dame Priti Patel – a former tobacco lobbyist – slammed policies she branded ‘beyond stupid’.
She said: ‘Imposing nanny state regulation like this on pubs and restaurants would not only be wrong but economically damaging.
‘These are small businesses, run by hardworking people, that provide jobs up and down the country.
‘Labour is devoid of ideas and has no economic plan and is now reduced to nanny state policies to pacify their socialist base and take freedoms and choices away from the British people.
‘Asking the police to enforce this at a time when Starmer is releasing dangerous criminals onto our streets is beyond stupid, it borders on the negligent.
‘This needs to be reversed immediately before it endangers both our retail sector and the safety of our streets.’
A recent impact assessment has even found that banning smoking outdoors could cost jobs and force even more pubs to close, the tabloid reports.
It could spell the end of the shisha bar industry in the UK, which held more than 500 national locations in 2022.
And the policy could leave devastation in its wake for the hospitality industry – with a 2020 government release explicitly warning that banning cigarettes in pub gardens could ‘lead to significant closures and job losses’.
But amid rising fears as to the effect cigarettes could have on the nation’s health, it is reported that the Prime Minister is set to press forward with the bill.
He is said to have the backing of Chief Medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, while ministers will argue that the economic benefits outweigh its potential costs.
Ministers are expected to claim smoking costs £21.8billion in health spending.
The original ban on indoor smoking, introduced across the UK by Tony Blair in 2007, was blamed by some for leading to the closure of pubs, particularly smaller ones that could not adapt.
It follows more recent anti-smoking measures, such as a ban on methol cigarettes in 2020 and outlawing smoking in cars with children in 2015.
A public consultation will be launched over the ban, but this is not expected to sway the radical plans.
It is unclear how far away from a location such as a pub or restaurant a smoker would have to walk before they could legally light up.
As many as 6.4million people smoke in the UK – 13 per cent of the country’s population.
The country has a target of becoming ‘smoke-free’ by 2030 – where only five per cent of the nation would have cigarettes.
Labour will easily be able to get the ban through Parliament given its huge majority.
No Labour MPs voted against the Tories’ anti-smoking legislation in April.
It was opposed by 58 Conservatives including current leadership contenders Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.
However many of the rebels including ex-PM Liz Truss are no longer in Parliament, further diminishing the likelihood of opposition to the revised legislation.
It comes just months after the House of Commons overwhelmingly approved the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, inching the government closer to enforcing in law that anyone born after January 1 2009 would never be able to legally buy cigarettes.
If eventually passed, it would have meant that the age at which people can purchase cigarettes will be raised by one year annually.
How does tobacco damage the heart?
Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including tar and others that can narrow arteries and damage blood vessels.
While nicotine – a highly addictive toxin found in tobacco – is heavily linked with dangerous increases in heart rate and blood pressure.
Smoking also unleashes poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide, which replaces oxygen in the blood – reducing the availability of oxygen for the heart.
How many people does smoking kill?
Smoking is known to kill more than seven million people across the world each year, including 890,000 from breathing in second-hand smoke.
But many people are unaware that nearly half of those deaths, around three million, are due to heart disease, including heart attacks and strokes.
It was planned to give the Government powers to tackle youth vaping, with restrictions on flavours and new rules on packaging and selling vapes.
Just last month, it was revealed there has been a 17 per cent surge in cases over the last two decades with the likes of liver, throat and kidney cancers doubling in this time, according to analysis by Cancer Research UK.
While smoking rates are falling, the growing population means there are still around 6.4 million smokers in the UK.
Data from the charity shows there were around 57,600 diagnoses of cancers caused by smoking in 2023, compared to 49,325 in 2003.
Tobacco is known to cause 16 different types of cancer, with lung cancer alone causing 33,000 cases annually.
A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson aid: ‘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 second-hand smoking. We’re considering a range of measures to finally make Britain smoke-free.’
Critics and MPs opposed to Rishi Sunak’s previous ‘nanny-state’ measures worried the move to create a smoke-free generation would backfire and cause a black market boom.
Some feared that health chiefs could eye up crackdowns on sugar, caffeine and alcohol next, calling the move a ‘slippery slope’.
Vocal nay-sayers included ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage and former PM Boris Johnson, who labelled the ban ‘absolutely nuts’.
2004: Ireland bans smoking in enclosed public places, including pubs, clubs and restaurants
2006: Scotland implements smoking ban on indoor public spaces
2007: England, Wales and Northern Ireland bring in indoor ban. In England, smoking is banned in almost all enclosed public spaces and the NHS goes smoke-free. Legal age to buy cigarettes raised from 16 to 18
2008: Cigarette companies told to feature pictorial health warnings on packets
2010: Government announces it will enforce tobacco display ban and consider plain packaging for tobacco products
2015: Smoking in cars with children banned in England and ban on the display of tobacco in small shops comes into force throughout the UK
2017: Government issues target to reduce smoking prevalence among adults to 12 per cent or less by 2022
2019: Department of Health publishes plans to make England smoke-free by 2030
2020: Menthol cigarettes are banned in the UK and EU
Liz Truss, Johnson’s short-lived successor, also told the BBC: ‘We shouldn’t be telling people not to smoke and I worry about where it will lead.’
Maxwell Marlow, director of research at thinktank The Adam Smith Institute, also said the ban was ‘no way to govern a free society’.
He told : ‘The public have not been properly asked whether they want their liberties to be infringed in this unprecedented manner.
‘This ban is a charter for criminals, who will sell far more dangerous products to the unsuspecting public, even those who smoke now.
‘This is a slippery slope, and gives rise to the valid concern that our public health bureaucrats will next seek to further regulate sugar, caffeine, and alcohol because they don’t believe that the British public is smart enough to understand the risks.
Responding to the ban’s backlash England’s chief medical officer rejected ‘pro-choice’ arguments.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty argued instead that cigarettes were a product ‘designed to take your choice away’.
And health experts said the ‘bold announcement… positions the UK as world leading in tobacco control’ and would ‘save countless lives’.
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health president, Professor Steve Turner, said: ‘This is a major milestone towards realising the government’s ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history.
‘Stopping children and young people from starting to smoke will decrease their chance of developing preventable disease later in life.
‘As paediatricians, we work day in and day out to support children’s health.
‘We are clear that children should not become addicted to nicotine and youth vaping must be tackled.
‘We now need MPs from across the new parliament to use the historic opportunity before them to support this bill when introduced and help protect our children’s and nations’ long-term health.’
Cancer Research UK’s executive director of policy, Dr Ian Walker, added: ‘The government’s commitment to introduce new legislation on smoking will have a hugely positive impact on the nation’s health.
‘Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death in the UK and is responsible for 160 cancer cases per day.
‘By raising the age of sale for tobacco products, the government will help to prevent cancer, relieve pressures on the NHS and build a healthier future.
‘This bold announcement positions the UK as world leading in tobacco control. We now hope to see the legislation passed and implemented in full across the UK to help bring an end to cancers caused by smoking for good.’
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, also said: ‘Today’s announcement puts us in pole position to be the first country in the world to end smoking.
‘Smoking puts pressure on our NHS and social care system, but the greatest financial impact is the damage to our economy due to lost productivity.
‘The measures announced today will play a major role in helping government achieve its ambition to halve the difference in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions, and deliver productivity growth in every part of the country.’