Scotland Bans Smoking!!

[Scotpix]

Just decided today and announced in Parliament

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3996587.stm

Now I can go back in the pub and come out not smelling like an ash tray! WELL DONE!!

Colin

http://www.scotpix.biz

[misslarue]

Yeah...Well done.



English will pay for Scots ban on public smoking

ANDREW DENHOLM
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT


Key points
• Licensed trade begins fightback on smoking ban
• Search for legal loopholes in clampdown
• English taxpayers may find themselves footing the bill

Key quote
"Working class communities already feel a sense of social exclusion and this should not further exclude them" - DUNCAN MCNEIL, MSP GREENOCK

Story in full ENGLAND is to bear the brunt of the initial cost of Scotland’s proposed smoking ban, as the Chancellor braces himself for £120 million in lost tobacco revenue.

Scotland’s small army of smokers provide the government with £840 million in cigarette duty each year - a figure which stands to drop by 15 per cent if the proposed ban on smoking takes place.

But Jack McConnell, the First Minister, will be protected from the financial impact of the ban because the rules of devolution mean it will not affect the budget, which is set in London each year.

At present, smoking is a major earner for the government, adding £8.2 billion a year in revenue - mainly from the duty charged on cigarettes which rises in every successive budget.

A disproportionately high share of this is raised in Scotland, where there are more heavy smokers. The amount is more than offset by the costs of treating such smokers in hospitals.

But while this trade-off will take a decade or more to complete, the financial impact of a smoking ban - as Ireland has found - is immediate, with sales of cigarettes down by 15 per cent since its ban was introduced last March.

If the same trend happened in Scotland, some £120 million would be lost from government revenue. But the impact will be felt on the UK Treasury, which has no powers to deny Scotland the missing money.

But the figures are tiny by the Treasury’s standards. The latest figures show Scotland already receives some £8 billion more in government spending than it generates in tax.

About 10 per cent of British men smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day - but this is true for 13 per cent of men in Scotland. Alcohol consumption figures are similarly higher north of the Border. Both are directly linked to poverty.

A Labour MSP warned yesterday that the smoking ban was too weak. Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, said that in isolation, the ban was too narrow in focus as it tackled only smoking in public.

Mr McNeil told The Scotsman: "The bill seeks to protect people from passive smoking in public places, but it doesn’t seek to reduce the harm from smoking overall.

"Passive smoking is a killer, as is smoking, but the level of risk in the home is higher than anywhere else, and if we are to tackle smoking in the broadest sense we must ensure that we lever in money to communities that are more affected by smoking and the whole health inequality issues that surround that," Mr McNeil said.

"I worry that while focusing on public places we put it out of sight and out of mind. We sweep it under the carpet."

Mr McNeil said unless the legislation took a broader look at smoking, it would be seen as "socially exclusive". And he called for much greater amounts of money to be spent on tackling smoking than the £6 million earmarked by the First Minister.

"Working class communities already feel a sense of social exclusion and this should not further exclude them," said Mr McNeil.

[unsubstantial]

I think this is a terrible thing. I don't like smopking, or others smoking around me, but to take away someones right to do so. Who is running thins country; Hitler?

[gael]

Originally posted by unsubstantial
I think this is a terrible thing. I don't like smopking, or others smoking around me, but to take away someones right to do so. Who is running thins country; Hitler?

no worse tony blair!!!

[druid1616]

i hate smoking anywhere. they did a smoking band in boston to . thank god. i agree about not taking away peoples rights but honestly if it's ur disicion to hurt yourself thats all well and good but to put ur choice on someone else(second hand smoke) i think is unfair and i'm for the bands cause i'm not going to stay inside just cuz smokers make it so other people can't breath. + the fact i don't like smoke in my god damn food!

[IBeirTheBell]

Well all I can say is that if you banned smoking in the US, there would be people running around and blowing people up.


Although i would support a ban on cigs.

Cigars are good though

[unsubstantial]

Originally posted by IBeirTheBell
Well all I can say is that if you banned smoking in the US, there would be people running around and blowing people up.

So it would make no difference then?