Make all outdoor dining and drinking smoke-free, not just government proposed zones

Outside is the new inside for the hospitality sector. But allowing smoking under new pavement licencing rules is a danger to health and a step backwards in efforts to help people quit, says Lindsay Northover

The smoking ban didn’t harm the hospitality trade, but coronavirus certainly has (Getty)

More than 13 years ago all indoor workplaces, including pubs and restaurants, went smoke-free by law. It seems hard to believe now, but the tobacco industry and their proxies argued that it would be unenforceable, would destroy British pubs and could never work. The reality, from day one, was the opposite.

Smoke-free laws were popular, easy to enforce, good for business and good for health. More and more pubs started serving food, attracting a larger clientele as they became popular with families as free crayons and colour-in menus replaced ash trays.

The smoking ban didn’t harm the hospitality trade, but coronavirus certainly has. Pubs, cafes and restaurants are re-opening, but their capacity is strictly limited by the need for social distancing. That’s why parliament has legislated to allow businesses to extend on to the pavement. Because of Covid-19, the outside is the new inside.

However, there are unintended consequences. Previously customers wishing to avoid second-hand smoke could stay inside. Coronavirus not only limits indoor access, it also makes it much riskier in terms of infection. If smoking is allowed, these new outside areas won’t be family friendly. Customers, staff and neighbouring premises, particularly in cramped inner-city areas, will be exposed to second-hand smoke. That’s a danger to health, and we also know that many dislike this – for example, when Greater Manchester surveyed its population, over 70 per cent wanted the areas immediately outside public buildings to be smoke-free environments.

Working across parties has been vital in combatting the tobacco lobby. I’m a Lib Dem, but the amendment we tabled this week was cross party, supported by former Conservative government minister Lord Young, Labour deputy speaker Lord Faulkner, and crossbencher and professor of palliative medicine, Baroness Finlay. Our amendment proposed a simple, clear and easy to implement condition that all these new pavement areas should be smoke-free; it was supported by the Local Government Association, representing councils across England, and public health charities, such as Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

Let me be clear – this is not a ban on smoking outdoors. The amendment only applies to these new fast-track licences which allow premises to put furniture on the pavement to alleviate the capacity restrictions caused by coronavirus.

And this is supported by many people – polling by YouGov for ASH found that 63 per cent of the public support further smoke-free measures outdoors during the Covid-19 crisis.

This is also not a new idea. Most Canadian provinces have had laws to implement smoke-free patios outside hospitality venues for years. They’ve been popular, easy to enforce and have had a positive impact on health. Second-hand smoke exposure went down by almost a quarter where this was done. And ex-smokers were less likely to relapse and current smokers more likely to quit.

Surveys have shown that a million UK smokers have quit in the last four months because of coronavirus, with those under 30 more than twice as likely to quit. Let us help them.

Unfortunately, the government did not accept our proposal, but it has moved forward with a proposal that will require the provision of smoke-free seating in any area granted a pavement licence. The legislation says the government will develop guidance. The strength of this will be key, and it is vital that this is informed by Department of Health expertise.

Furthermore, the option exists for local councils to go further and make the new pavement areas completely smoke-free. Manchester and Birmingham City Councils have already said they will do so, and others are looking to follow.

The world is changing, and smoking is no longer the norm. The government has set itself the ambition of fewer than 5 per cent of the population smoking by 2030, with strong support from the public. Expanding outdoor spaces that are smoke-free is a small but important step towards that goal. The tide of history is taking us to a smoke-free future.

Baroness Northover is a Liberal Democrat life peer who has sat under this title in the Lords since 2000