Health Bill

No, not even to the previous Conservative Member for Derby, North, whom I was pleased to defeat at the time. The non-smoking facilities in many public houses are inadequate. Under the new arrangements, I shall have a choice. I will be able to go to a wide variety of establishments if—as I do—I wish to socialise in a non-smoking environment. Those who want to smoke, insist on smoking and demand the right to smoke will be able to go to establishments that are full of cigarette smoke where they can indulge their dirty, filthy, stinking, antisocial and expensive activity. The Bill provides an element of choice that hitherto did not exist. Some Conservative Members suggested that public houses would decide to junk food and become drinking-only establishments so that they could get the punters in, chuffing away fast and furiously. I do not believe that that will happen. If we consider how social activity and public houses have changed in modern Britain, we realise that most establishments need to sell food to stay in business. In my locality—I guess that it is not very different elsewhere—all country pubs, pubs on the fringes of cities and those near city centres sell food. If they did not, they would not survive. If they decided to get rid of food to attract people who wanted to indulge in the dirty, filthy, stinking, antisocial and expensive habit, they would go out of business. Market forces mean that there will be public houses full of smoke and—thank God—public houses that have a clean environment, where people such as me can go and breathe reasonably fresh air and, perhaps for the first time, enjoy the wonderful aroma from the head of a good pint of Marston’s Pedigree. The Government have got it just about right. That is why I shall support the Bill.