Labour looks to ban smoking outside pubs and restaurants in England.
The Sun's big front-page scoop on Thursday was the proposed ban on smoking outside hospitals, pubs, restaurants, and leisure venues in England. Except the Sun did not specify *England*. Here's The Sun's Chief Political correspondent, Jack Elsom, explaining that 'The smoking ban in the UK is set to be extended to many outdoor areas'.
This territorial imprecision was replicated in the press and on social media, with all and sundry claiming that Labour planned to ban outdoor smoking areas across the UK.
Both Nigel Farage and ReformUK were quick to capitalise, claiming that it would spell the end for Britain's pubs, despite being a policy for England, not Britain.
The Conservatives agreed, telling their supporters that 'Pubs are the beating heart of communities across Britain. Labour seems intent on killing them off.', despite it being a policy for England, not Britain.
As a non-partisan campaign, the Campaign for an English Parliament does not take a position on the rights or wrongs of this policy, other than to note that it is a policy that was not included in Labour's manifesto for England (because they didn't produce one) or Labour's UK manifesto.
If the House of Commons gets to vote on this ban, we ask that MPs elected outside England observe a self-denying ordinance.
