SCOTLAND: Scotland is to follow the Republic by outlawing smoking in public places, with tough fines for repeat offenders, the government of Scotland announced yesterday.
Legislation to outlaw smoking in enclosed public places will be drafted before Christmas and a target date of spring 2006 is being set for full implementation, First Minister Jack McConnell told the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
He said the move was necessary to tackle the country's "lamentable" health record, and said the ban would have few exemptions.
Medical organisations, cancer charities and trade unions welcomed the "bold" move. Professor Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "Huge numbers of lives will be saved as a result of this legislation and many smokers, desperate for the support to give up, will have a golden opportunity to quit successfully."
But the country's licensed trade threatened a legal battle, saying a ban would cause 30,000 job losses. Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, which had pressed unsuccessfully for a voluntary approach to curbing smoking, said: "We will continue the fight. "We are consulting with legal advisers and we will pursue every avenue to ensure that the interests of the licensed trade are upheld."
He said the Executive had failed to justify the ban with hard facts and operated a "sham" consultation.
"It seems the priorities of this administration are to criminalise ordinary people in pubs instead of tackling real crime in our society."
Many details of the proposed legislation remained unclear yesterday, in particular, how a public place would be defined.
Executive officials were unable to say to what extent office smoking rooms, prisons, sports grounds and military establishments would be covered by the legislation.
A spokeswoman said: "Ministers have given a clear signal that they want smoking in all enclosed places where the public will be, to be outlawed.
"The actual definition of an enclosed space hasn't been completely defined and that is something we are going to do."
Announcing the proposed ban, Mr McConnell said licensees or employers who failed to enforce the law would face fines of up to £2,500, and licensees who persistently flouted it would face the ultimate sanction of losing their licence.
Individuals who smoked in enclosed public areas would face fixed penalty notices, with maximum fines of up to £1,000 for regular offenders.
Environmental health and local licensing standards offices would enforce the ban, and private clubs would not be exempt. "The only exemptions will be in private and specific circumstances," Mr McConnell said.
The decision was agreed unanimously at a morning cabinet meeting where ministers studied papers on the health effects of passive smoking and the economic impact of a ban.
The first paper said up to 2,000 lives a year could be saved by a ban, and the economic paper said the country's economy could get an annual boost of £131 million five years after a ban from health savings, productivity gains, and increased pub and restaurant takings.
But in a letter to Scottish finance minister Tom McCabe, New York bar owners claimed their city's smoking ban had cost the hospitality industry 2,600 jobs, $50 million in lost wages and $70 million in lost production.
Ministers are to launch a marketing campaign to promote a smoke-free Scotland.
Scotland: the public cost of smoking
- Source: BBC