Key events
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade group UKHospitality, has said any plans to ban smoking in some outdoor areas should be “thought through very carefully before we damage businesses and economic growth and jobs”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme:
I’m not sure at this point in time what the proposals are for banning smoking in public places and outdoors, but it would seem sensible for us to be able to look at that more carefully and think about that in due course, after we’ve taken some of these other steps that could be looked at.
This is not without economic harm, and it’s not without economic cost to businesses that are providing outside areas for smokers and non-smokers, and also vapers, because I note in some of the reports there’s suggestions that vaping in outside areas could also be restricted.
So, this needs to be thought through very carefully before we damage businesses and economic growth and jobs.”
Nicholls added that there has been “big investment” in outside areas for smokers and non-smokers since the coronavirus pandemic, saying a ban would be a “significant hit”.
Smoking could be banned in UK’s pub gardens and outdoor restaurants
Caroline Davies
Smoking could be banned in pub gardens, outdoor restaurants, outside hospitals and at sports grounds in the UK under tighter restrictions being considered by ministers, according to leaked documents.
The measures are being proposed as part of a tougher version of the previous government’s tobacco and vapes bill, which would prohibit the sale of tobacco to those born on or after January 2009, the Sun reports.
Secret Whitehall papers confirmed plans to extend the indoor smoking ban, despite some opposition within government, the newspaper said.
It added that under the proposals lighting up would also be banned at open-air spaces at clubs and restaurants, and pavements next to both, as well as outside universities, children’s play areas and small parks.
Ministers could also target vapers as well as shisha bars, it said. The restrictions will not cover private homes or large open spaces, such as parks, or streets.
The tobacco and vapes bill was introduced in parliament earlier this year but fell when the general election was called. Last month’s king’s speech promised to reintroduce legislation to increase progressively the age at which people can buy cigarettes, though made no mention of an outdoor ban.
You can read the full article here:
Good morning, and welcome to today’s blog, bringing you the latest news across the UK’s political scene.
Following Keir Starmer’s meeting yesterday with German chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Germans are continuing to highlight their enthusiasm for a youth mobility deal.
Germany’s ambassador to the UK has said an agreement with the EU “should be in the British interest”.
Miguel Berger told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme:
There are many misunderstandings about what youth mobility really means. It is not freedom of movement, it has nothing to do with migration.
It means that young people, who are really those who have most lost because of Brexit, that they have the possibility to come to the European Union, to come to the United Kingdom, for a limited amount of time, and then they will leave.
So, it’s enhancing the possibilities for young people. That’s what we want. And it’s not only Germany, I can tell you all the 27 in the European Union want to enhance that.”
As PA Media reports, Berger went on:
Youth mobility should also be in the British interest. Young people from this country might want to live for a year in Berlin or in Madrid or in Paris, and the youth mobility scheme would open that possibility.”
Yesterday, in his press conference with Scholz, Starmer said there were no plans for a youth mobility deal but speaking to reporters later, he pointedly did not rule out setting up some sort of system for other link-ups, for example student exchanges.
In other developments:
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Keir Starmer has told reporters in Germany of his concern that the UK could face a rise in mass far-right populism as seen in their country and France, as he said it was his mission to “inject some hope” into the country.
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After his visit to Germany, Starmer will meet Emmanuel Macron this morning for bilateral talks in Paris. He arrived in the city, and met the French president, last night for the Paralympics opening ceremony.
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The government is reportedly considering banning smoking in some outdoor areas to improve public health. The indoor smoking ban could be extended to cover beer gardens or outside football stadiums, according to leaked plans seen by the Sun newspaper.
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The Home Office has been accused of submitting “woeful” budget figures under successive Conservative ministers – which officials knew understated the ballooning cost of asylum and illegal immigration spending. In a report partially vindicating Rachel Reeves’s claim that the new Labour government inherited a far worse financial situation than initially thought, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) thinktank suggested the Home Office had repeatedly lowballed its budget estimates.
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Colum Eastwood is to quit as leader of Northern Ireland’s SDLP, PA Media news agency understands. Eastwood is expected to announce the decision when he “makes a personal statement” about his future on Thursday, a senior SDLP source said.