Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 5:"Page 2, line 10, at beginning insert ““Except as provided in section (Premises serving food),””" The noble Lord said: I realise that in returning early from an engagement on the other side of the Channel I have caused a great deal of disappointment to my noble friends Lady Barker and Lord Clement-Jones. I had not expected to be back in time to propose the amendment, but, as I am, I shall do so briefly as I have missed the opening jousts in the Bill. Let me say first that I have a personal interest in this because I always enjoy a small cigar after dinner. The Bill will remove the chance of doing that except in my own house. I do not think that that is in accordance with what the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, was talking about earlier. The ethics behind the Bill are those of the nanny state rather than anything else. I find that quite offensive. Amendment No. 5 is the paving amendment for Amendment No. 10 on the Marshalled List. My amendment in no way challenges the basic premise behind the Bill. In other words, I accept that excessive smoking by any individual is bad, but, as someone else has just said, so is excessive drinking and so are excessive many things. Naturally the Government, as a responsible government, are trying to stop excessive smoking. Passive smoking is not only harmful but it is also offensive to many people. My amendment recognises that. Under my amendment, any place such as a restaurant or a pub will have to provide both smoking and non-smoking facilities. Under my new clause, it will not be possible to have a pub or a restaurant which does not provide smoking facilities. Therefore, I think that we meet the objectives that the Government seek without trespassing on the rights of the individual who wishes to enjoy a smoke after a meal. That is a reasonable proposition. So my amendment simply says that as long as the premises have clearly designated smoking and non-smoking areas, the smoking areas have adequate ventilation and that no employee is required to work in a smoking area—because that is an important part as well—smoking should be permitted in bars and restaurants. Members of the Committee may be aware that the smoking ban came into effect in Scotland a few days ago. On Monday evening, I took my wife to the local village pub for a meal. I was horrified to find that the outside of the pub is now festooned with ugly metal ashtrays for those who wish to go outside to enjoy a smoke. That is one of the environmental effects of the Bill as it stands at the moment. My amendment is reasonable. I do not pretend that it is couched in proper parliamentary legalistic terms; it is not. It is a probing amendment designed to find out from the Government why they insist on this mandatory clamp-down on smoking in every possible area. I beg to move.