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Health and Education

No, we will not—[Hon. Members: ““Ah!””] There are two perfectly viable ways of proceeding: either having a legislative ban everywhere, or move forward on a voluntary basis. [Interruption.] Labour Members jeer, but yesterday the British Beer and Pub Association announced that its pubs would get rid of their happy hours, so action on public health is already being taken. We have set out clearly that we should proceed on a voluntary basis—it is perfectly possible—to deliver an environment in public houses and other public places that is smoke free for all those who want it and smoke free for children. Frankly, if the Government are really interested in the public health aspects, rather than talking about a partial ban they should devote more attention to delivering effectiveness in smoking cessation services. The evidence is very clear that the real dangers lie in smoking, in being the partner of someone who smokes or in being the child of parents who smoke. Those are the critical issues. If we can continue the downward trend in the number of people who smoke in this country, we will deliver substantial improvements in public health. That has not happened in the past few years, but it did happen—