The post you are reporting:
With the whiff of an election in the air, I'm wondering whether either of the two 'main' parties should give some thought to amending or repealing the ban on smoking in public places.
If the media are to be believed, Britain's pubs are closing at a rate so fast that many are predicted to close for good if the smoking ban is not amended or repealed. I have always thought it grossly unfair that a landlord or restaurant owner should not have the right to opt out, or opt into, the current legislation. In other words, any licenced premises should be allowed to become a 'smoking' establishment or a 'no smoking' establishment. In my opt-in or opt-out theory, pubs and restaurants would have to display whether or not they were a smoking establishment on the doors and windows so that customers would have the choice whether or not to enter, and it would thus only be a matter of time before regulars got to know the preference of the licence holder.
In my opinion, this returns individual choice to the people, rather than having a state dictate that you cannot smoke in a public place, which seems inherently unfair and is just another manifestation of interfering nanny-state legislation. I know that there are ramifications such as the cost to the NHS, but those who smoke (and I'm not one) pay through the nose in direct taxation on cigarettes as it is so I believe the argument that by banning smoking in a public place you're reducing the cost to the NHS to be weak, at best.
How many landlords do we hear of who say that the current level of duty on alcohol, coupled with the smoking ban, is strangling their businesses? Isn't it time to look at this legislation and put it right, before a British way of life is lost forever? I know that UKIP's manifesto states that they would do away with this law, but I'm not sure that anyone except Vic seriously believes they will gain power at the next election. I think that if either Labour or Conservative adopted a review of the smoking ban with a view to amending it, that would prove a substantial vote winner.
