Forest warns against "creeping prohibition"

Mon 2nd February, 2015

Campaigners have criticised a pilot scheme designed to stop people smoking in the open air.

Millennium Square and Anchor Square in Bristol will become the UK’s first major public outdoor spaces to go smoke free following the launch of a voluntary scheme on Monday 2 February.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest, said it was an example of "creeping prohibition".

He said:

"Smoking is banned in all enclosed public places. Now campaigners want to ban it outside. This is creeping prohibition.

"Extending public smoking bans to outdoor areas is illiberal and unwarranted.

"Smoking in the open air harms no-one apart, perhaps, from the consumer and that's their choice.

"Tobacco is a legal product. Smokers contribute £10 billion a year in tobacco taxation alone. They must be allowed to light up somewhere without harassment."

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