WLVA in final bid to avoid blanket smoking ban in Wales

The Welsh Licensed Victuallers' Association (WLVA) will next week make a last-gasp attempt to convince the Welsh Assembly that a blanket smoking ban will destroy businesses.

WLVA representatives will plead for Wales to follow England, rather than Scotland, and stop short of an all-out ban. Scotland is to ban smoking in all public places by 2006. They will address the final evidence session of the assembly's committee on smoking in public places.

Julie Morgan, Labour MP for Cardiff North, recently introduced a Private Members Bill demanding power for the assembly to enforce a ban separately from England. If the committee finds in favour of a smoking ban, there could be a repeat of the Scottish situation.

Allan Hayes, licensee at the Buck House Hotel in Wrexham and chairman of the Wrexham LVA, said: "All we are asking for is choice. I have areas of my premises that are strictly non-smoking, but if we can't offer our customers that option, we will lose business."

Philip Lay, retail director of Welsh brewer and pubco SA Brain, agreed: "We need to follow the English model, not the Scottish one. There will be a disproportionate effect on trade in Wales with pubs on the border and low-income rural pubs guaranteed to suffer," he said.

"We advocate choice - without that businesses will fold."

After the final meeting of the committee on Wednesday, during which the Welsh Local Government Association will also speak, committee members will visit Ireland to learn how the ban has impacted there.

Val Lloyd, the Labour Welsh Assembly member for Swansea East who chairs the committee, said: "I want to hear all sides of the story before I conclude anything. There are members on the committee who feel strongly in favour of a ban, I am not one of them and look forward to hearing the evidence."