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MPs campaign to overturn smoking ban
THREE MPs, one from Yorkshire, joined celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson to bolster a campaign aimed at amending the current smoking ban to help the pub and club industry.
Greg Knight, Conservative MP for East Yorkshire, joined John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley and David Clelland, Labour MP for Tyne Bridge to pledge their support to the campaign.
Mr Knight said: "I fully support this campaign. Britain's pubs and clubs are at the heart of every local community and the UK approach of banning indoor smoking everywhere is damaging the viability of many licensed premises where people wish to smoke.
"Pub landlords and club committees know best what their customers want and they should be allowed to provide smoking rooms if there is a demand."
One of the changes the group hopes will be considered is the adoption of the Spanish model - where venues with limited floor space can choose to be smoking or non-smoking, but venues larger than 100 square metres can have a designated, fully-partitioned, smoking room.
They are also proposing that smoking of tobacco be allowed in venues that can secure a licence by ensuring an agreed level of ventilation and air quality in all areas.
It is also hoped the Government could allow some discretion for local authorities in determining the nature and extent of smoking regulations.
The campaign is calling for urgent consideration of the changes to halt a decline that has seen six pubs closing every day, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.
Worrall Thompson, patron of the smokers' group Forest, said: "The smoking ban has had an extraordinarily detrimental effect on pubs and clubs, and you can understand why.
"They used to be bastions of adult entertainment where young and old could meet and chat over a pint without the health police looking over their shoulders. Modern ventilation systems combined with separate rooms make it perfectly acceptable to smoke indoors. The legislation as it stands is excessive and I would like to see it amended."
During Commons question time, Mr Clelland suggested that smoking pub-goers should be allowed inside where they can be "hidden away" rather than group together on the streets.
Mr Clelland asked: "What influence will the crowds of people we see on the streets outside pubs and clubs up and down the country have on young people?
"Would it not be better for these smokers to be hidden away inside the building in a controlled environment and not on the streets where children can see them?"
Tory Philip Davies also urged ministers to reconsider plans in the Health Bill to prohibit tobacco displays because it would have a "negative impact" on small shops.
Mr Davies, MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, said there was "nothing to suggest" that the display ban would reduce the number of young people taking up smoking.
"It's merely another triumph for the nanny state and it's another triumph for this Government, which is obsessed with headline-grabbing but pointless initiatives," he said.
"Will you reconsider this decision, given the negative impact it will have on small shops which are already struggling through the recession?"
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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