UK government considers smoking ban in pub gardens and outside restaurants, nightclubs and football stadiums

As reported in The Sun, the indoor ban on lighting cigarettes could be extended to several outside areas. The national publication added that Whitehall papers show measures could be in place outside universities, hospitals and other sports grounds.

This does not cover private homes or large opens spaces such as national parks or streets. “Smoking claims 80,000 lives a year, puts huge pressure on our NHS, and costs taxpayers billions,” a government source told The Sun.

“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.” These restrictions would be a toughened up version of the previous government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which would outlaw tobacco sales to anyone born on or after January 2009. The bill was introduced but fell after the July General Election was called.

The King’s Speech in parliament last month promised to reintroduce the legislation to increase progressively the age at which people can buy cigarettes. According to the BBC, the decline in the number of people smoking has stalled. The rate of decline has slowed from 5.2 per cent in the years before the Covid-19 pandemic to just 0.3 per cent between April 2020 and August 2022, data from BMC Medicine says.