Should smoking be banned in beer gardens, cafe pavements and on beaches?

A review calling for a radical shake-up of tobacco laws has suggested smoking should be banned in outdoor places where children are present such as beer gardens, cafe pavements and beaches.

The plan, commissioned by the Government, said ministers will not meet their pledge to make England smoke-free by 2030 unless reforms are brought in as a matter of urgency.

Dr Javed Khan, who led the review, set out 15 recommendations calling for action, including banning supermarkets from selling tobacco or cigarettes and mass stop-smoking campaigns on TV and social media.

Among the recommendations are four “critical must-dos” for the Government to be acted upon immediately, including an extra £125 million per year to fund the support that smokers need to help them quit.

This should include investing an extra £70 million per year in stop-smoking services, with a possible tax on tobacco firms to pay for it, the report said.

The second “must-do” is to increase the age of sale from 18 by one year every year, until no-one can buy a tobacco product. If implemented by 2026, this would mean anyone aged 14 and under now would never be able to buy a cigarette.

The third call is to promote vaping as an “effective tool to help people to quit smoking tobacco”, which, although not a risk-free “silver bullet”, is better than smoking.

Fourthly, prevention “must become part of the NHS’s DNA”, Dr Khan said, adding the health service must do more to encourage smokers to quit “at every interaction they have with health services”.

Dr Khan told an online meeting there is a need to stop the tobacco industry “preying on children and young people”, adding that if cigarettes were introduced today they would never be legalised.

This view was echoed by England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty, who said the cigarette industry made its profits from “getting young people addicted to smoking, something that will kill or severely disable many of them”.

Smoking causes nearly one in five cancer cases and more than one in four cancer deaths each year in the UK. Almost six million people in England still smoke.

Dr Khan said in his report: “If we do nothing different, smoking will cause over half a million more deaths by 2030.

Do you agree that smoking should be banned in pub gardens and beaches or do you think this is a step too far? Or perhaps you think the recommendations don’t go far enough and smoking should be banned in all outdoor public spaces? Do you think by making it harder for smokers these measures will help people to quit?