Welsh smoking ban looks certain
A hardline anti-smoking policy in pubs in Wales now looks almost certain to be brought in if Labour is returned to power after the election. The Labour manifestos for the two countries are radically different: Wales will get the power to ban smoking in all enclosed public places, while non-food pubs in England will be able to choose whether to allow smoking to continue.
Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan said go-it-alone powers for Wales would be included in a new Health Bill to be introduced soon after the election.
The Welsh version of the Labour manifesto states that the enclosed-places ban will be "subject to consultation".
That consultation has already been completed by the National Assembly's committee on smoking in public places, and the hardline recommendations are now expected to be published quickly after the election.
Welsh politicians in Westminster and at the Welsh Assembly have argued for more than two years for Wales to curb smoking without waiting for England.
Scores of licensees have delivered petitions to Welsh MPs and the Welsh Assembly under The Publican's Butt Out! campaign to prevent further intervention in the Department of Health's plans for a partial smoking ban.
Yet the Assembly's stance now appears to have hardened, with committee members privately admitting an Irish-style ban will be recommended in the report.
Evidence from Ireland of a 7.3 per cent drop in sales by volume - based on government figures for the first seven months - is being downplayed.
A committee member said: "We found on our visit there that upgraded pubs have not suffered. We accept that some Welsh pubs will suffer, but they will be the ones that have not been modernised for years."
Welsh licensees told the committee that one pub in four - including the majority of the 400 with a turnover of under £62,000 - would close due to the fall in trade.
But committee members believe that such a fall would be temporary.
John Price, secretary of Licensed Victuallers Wales, said: "We've said we're willing to compromise. If Labour is taking this line, we will have to recommend reconsidering our support for that party."
Grey Philips, secretary of the Swansea Licensed Victuallers' Association said: "We were solid Labour - but with the new rateable values there is a lot of disaffection about Labour in Wales at the moment."
