Health Bill

I am very glad that the heroic efforts of the noble Lord, Lord Steel, to make it back across the Channel have borne fruit. First, it saves me the task of trying, inadequately, to move his amendment, as I feared I might have to do; and, secondly, further to what has just been said, the noble Lord, Lord Steel, is that rather rare bird—one of the few remaining liberal Liberal Democrats. He is a genuine, old-fashioned, tolerant liberal. He does not want to become a control freak, or whatever. He is a vanishing breed, I fear. I have put my name to Amendment No. 10, for which Amendment No. 5 is merely a paving amendment. It is a very important amendment—much more important than it may seem—because it reflects public opinion. Members of the Committee who like the Bill as it stands, and those who want to make it even more restrictive, repeatedly cite a recent opinion poll which they say shows that a majority of those polled demand that workplaces be smoke free. But, of course, as the noble Lord, Lord Steel, has pointed out, we are not talking about workplaces. The amendment specifically provides that no one who does not want to enter the rooms in question—which will be sealed off—will be obliged to do so. Whether they are smokers or merely non-smokers who are tolerant of smoke—and I accept that not all of them are by any means—only those who are happy to do so will venture into such places. The amendment will provide what everyone wants. Those who dislike the smell of smoke will be free from it. There may be a little drifting in peripherally, but the same will apply to people who smoke outside pubs with the door open in the summer. Those who want to sit in comfort and have a cigarette, a cigar or a pipe will be able to do so. One of the hidden agendas of those who support a ban on smoking is that they want to make smoking into a furtive, uncomfortable activity. The idea of people sitting in comfort, in the dry, without being pelted by rain or hail, is anathema to them. Their whole object is to ensure that those who go on smoking do so in conditions of increasing discomfort so that they eventually give up of their own accord after a few years. This is an excellent amendment. Whether or not the wording is 100 per cent perfect is neither here nor there at this stage. I think we must persist with this one.