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Health Bill

It is always a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (John Bercow), whom I like and admire in equal measure, but I am afraid I cannot share his general euphoria over what happened earlier. Although the vote was not surprising, I think that this is an incredibly sad day. We have heard excellent speeches from those on both sides of the argument. The hon. Member for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound) made a very good and courageous speech, and my hon. Friends the Members for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson), for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) and for North Thanet (Mr. Gale) brought a large dose of common sense to the debate. I do not smoke, and I do not like going into smoky places—so I do not do so. That is my choice. I believe that if I owned a pub or a restaurant, I should be able to decide whether people are allowed to smoke on my premises on the basis of feedback from my customers and my employees. I do not see the need for any more nanny-state Government interference. I know that Labour Members pretend to support the free market, but although they now say they support it, I do not think that they understand it. If so many people had wanted a ban on smoking in pubs, restaurants and bars, the free market would have delivered it. Businesses survive and thrive by delivering what their customers want—that is how businesses prosper. Some companies were beginning to become non-smoking, and I welcome that. I welcome it when bars and restaurants become non-smoking.