Scottish smoking ban postponed

A total ban on smoking in pubs in Scotland has been put on the back-burner, despite pressure from an MSP.

The Scottish Executive has revealed that it will not be supporting a private member's bill drawn up by MSP Stewart Maxwell, who wants to ban smoking in bars and restaurants that serve food.

Mr Maxwell believes that cigarette smoke is a hazard for employees and customers and wants to introduce the ban because he believes that voluntary initiatives have failed.

But the Scottish Executive has revealed that it will give the trade time to demonstrate that the Smoking Charter can work.

Scottish licensees were fearful they may be facing stricter controls following the disappointing response of the UK government to the success of the Charter in England and Wales.

Trade leaders in Scotland are currently collating the results of their industry's Smoking Charter, which requires 56 per cent of public places to promote self-regulation on smoking through the use of signage, good ventilation and no-smoking areas where possible.

More than 1,300 pubs in Scotland have already implemented the Charter.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said: "We recognise the progress made by the licensed trade under the voluntary Charter and we hope that will continue."

She added that a more general review of Scottish smoking policy was planned, at which point the position would be reviewed.

Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: "This is good news. Many pubs have already implemented the Charter and we've argued all along that the trade needs to be given time to build on that."