Smoking is set to be banned in pub beer gardens, outdoor restaurants and outside sports stadiums and hospitals as part of a fresh government crackdown.
According to The Sun, ministers have drawn up plans to go even further than the last Tory government in encouraging smokers to kick the habit.
Labour have already confirmed they will implement Rishi Sunak’s plan to introduce a phased smoking ban by making it illegal for anyone born after 2010 to legally buy tobacco products.
It has now emerged that the legislation introducing that change will also prohibit outdoor smoking in a range of settings.
They include pub gardens, restaurant terraces, outside nightclubs, in children’s parks, as well as outside sports stadiums, universities and hospitals.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said they “do not comment on leaks”, but did not deny the plans.
“Smoking claims 80,000 lives a year, puts huge pressure on our NHS, and costs taxpayers billions,” the spokesperson said.
“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.”
Tory leadership contenders Robert Jenrick and Priti Patel hit out at the plans.
Posting on X, Jenrick said: “The last thing this country needs is thousands more pubs closing. Our country faces huge challenges. Why is Starmer focusing on this nonsense?”
Patel 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.”
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said: “The priority is to get the bill back in parliament and put on the statute book, to end smoking for the next generation and curb youth vaping.
“ASH would support the inclusion of powers to extend smokef-ree laws outdoors, subject to consultation. The government is catching up with what the public expects, and that’s not to have to breathe in tobacco smoke in places like children’s play areas and seating areas outside pubs, restaurants and cafes.
“However, it’s also important to ensure that there are still outdoor areas where people who smoke can smoke in the open air, rather than inside their homes.”