Vox Political called it on the pub garden smoking ban – the Labour government has dropped the idea.
Back in August, I wrote: “Is Keir Starmer trying to kill our pubs with his plan to ban smoking in beer gardens?
“If it happens, then people who enjoy (or, indeed, are addicted to) tobacco products may abandon pubs altogether, pushing incomes lower, and a centuries- (if not millennia-) old way of life may be extinguished. To be replaced by what?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
“If the government is going to impose a restriction that could cause serious harm to UK businesses, then it will be deliberately harming the economy and therefore the prosperity of UK citizens. That runs contrary to all governments’ reasons for existence.”
And now the BBC is reporting that the government is indeed ditching plans to ban smoking in the gardens of pubs and restaurants in England.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he didn’t want to cause further harm to the hospitality industry, adding that “people don’t want to see their high streets going down the pan”.
That’s pretty much what I said.
“There are lots of things that we can and will do on public health that don’t impact on people’s liberties or people’s livelihoods,” he told the Today programme on Radio 4.
He means the government realised it would be harming prosperity, contrary to its raison d’etre – and scrapped the idea.
The British Beer and Pub Association, which represents 20,000 pubs in the UK, said it welcomed the change of heart, adding that the ban “would have led to many pubs shutting their doors and jobs being lost”.
There’s also the fact that, as a licensee friend of mine pointed out, a ban would be unenforceable as it discriminates between pubs that have their own gardens and forecourts and those that open directly onto the street, which is public land; smoking on the street would not have been prohibited so those pubs would not suffer because of a ban.
So another Vox Political prediction comes true. I knew the government would be told it was doing harm and would act accordingly.
You read it here first.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Vox Political called it on the pub garden smoking ban
Vox Political called it on the pub garden smoking ban – the Labour government has dropped the idea.
Back in August, I wrote: “Is Keir Starmer trying to kill our pubs with his plan to ban smoking in beer gardens?
“If it happens, then people who enjoy (or, indeed, are addicted to) tobacco products may abandon pubs altogether, pushing incomes lower, and a centuries- (if not millennia-) old way of life may be extinguished. To be replaced by what?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
“If the government is going to impose a restriction that could cause serious harm to UK businesses, then it will be deliberately harming the economy and therefore the prosperity of UK citizens. That runs contrary to all governments’ reasons for existence.”
And now the BBC is reporting that the government is indeed ditching plans to ban smoking in the gardens of pubs and restaurants in England.
That’s pretty much what I said.
He means the government realised it would be harming prosperity, contrary to its raison d’etre – and scrapped the idea.
There’s also the fact that, as a licensee friend of mine pointed out, a ban would be unenforceable as it discriminates between pubs that have their own gardens and forecourts and those that open directly onto the street, which is public land; smoking on the street would not have been prohibited so those pubs would not suffer because of a ban.
So another Vox Political prediction comes true. I knew the government would be told it was doing harm and would act accordingly.
You read it here first.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
you might also like
Does Therese Coffey really know nothing – apart from how to take donor cash?
Isn’t banning cigarettes government interfering in our lives?
Is Keir Starmer trying to kill our pubs?