- SMOKEFREE WINS THE DAY: GREATEST PUBLIC HEALTH GAIN FOR THIRTY YEARS
- Deborah Arnott, Director of ASH said:
- By George Jones and Brendan Carlin
- (Filed: 15/02/2006)
- Smokers caught lighting up in banned areas face a £50 fine
صادقت بالأمس 14/2/2006م الحكومة البريطانية على قانون جديد لمنع التدخين في المقاهي والنوادي الخاصة بعد ما تم منعه سابقا في الأماكن العامة والأسواق
ويعتبر هذا نصرا كبير لناشطي حماية البيئة
ومن أجمل ما حدث بالأمس أن التصويت لم يكن له أي دخل بالأحزاب والإنتماءات حيث تم التصويت على حسب ما يمليه عليهم ضمائرهم
وسوف يتم تطبيق هذا المنع تدريجيا خلال سنتين من اليوم
ويشمل القانون جزاءات مالية وحبس لمن يخالفه ويذكر أن غرامة بمبلغ 50 جنيه إسترليني تفرض على أي شخص يدخن أو سوف يدخن بحمله السجارة ويتم تحريرها من قبل أشخاص متخفيين بين السياح والمارة.
وعقبال عندنا يا رب واول شيء مطار جدة الدولي
وهذه بعض ما قالته الصحف البريطانية والمواقع المناهضة للتدخين: http://www.ash.org.uk/
ASH News Release: Immediate Release Tuesday 14th February 2006
SMOKEFREE WINS THE DAY: GREATEST PUBLIC HEALTH GAIN FOR THIRTY YEARS
Action on Smoking and Health has expressed “delight” that MPs have voted in favour of comprehensive smokefree legislation covering all workplaces, including pubs and clubs.
At present, more than two million people in England and Wales work in places where smoking is allowed throughout and another ten million in places were smoking is allowed somewhere on the premises. The vote today will save hundreds of lives of non-smokers now exposed to other people’s smoke at work, and thousands of lives of smokers who will use the new law as a reason to quit. The Government’s own estimate is that about 700,000 smokers will quit across England.
Deborah Arnott, Director of ASH said:
“We are absolutely delighted that MPs have listened to the arguments, looked at the evidence and decided that comprehensive smokefree legislation is a cause whose time has come. England will now see the same benefits from this law as Ireland already has, and as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland shortly will.
I want to thank MPs from the Health Select Committee, and many other backbenchers from all Parties, who fought to win a free vote and to see this law put through the Commons. I also want to thank the thousands of health professionals, campaigners and ordinary people who have worked so hard to persuade MPs. In other countries with smokefree laws, Ministers led the campaign. In England, this campaign has been won without clear leadership from Government, which only makes the result even more remarkable.
This vote will save thousands of lives, as non-smokers are protected from other people’s smoke and as smokers quit in their hundreds of thousands. MPs will rarely get the chance to cast a vote that does so much good, at such little cost, in such a short time. This is the best news for public health for more than thirty years.
وهذا الخبر من التيلي تلقراف اللندنية: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/15/nsmoke15.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/15/ixportaltop.html
Total ban on smoking in pubs, clubs and at work
By George Jones and Brendan Carlin
(Filed: 15/02/2006)
Smoking will be outlawed in all pubs, restaurants, private clubs and most workplaces across Britain by the summer of next year after MPs voted overwhelmingly last night to extend a complete ban to England. Only private homes, care homes, hospitals, prisons and hotel bedrooms will be exempt.
Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed the measure as the "most important advance in public health for 50 years" since the link between cigarettes and lung cancer was established.
Smokers caught lighting up in banned areas face a £50 fine
As MPs voted, the Government announced a huge increase to £2,500 in fines for businesses and authorities that fail to stop people smoking in prohibited areas. The original proposal was for a £200 fine.
Spot fines of £200 will be introduced for failing to display no-smoking signs. If the case goes to court, the penalty could rise to £1,000.
The increases follow a consultation which suggested that businesses might be prepared to pay lower fines to keep smokers' custom after the ban takes effect.
Individual smokers caught lighting up in banned areas will face a fixed penalty notice of £50.
After months of argument in the Cabinet, MPs overturned on a free vote the Government's original policy to exempt private clubs and those pubs that did not serve food in England. The disarray within the Government was highlighted when Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, performed a bizarre U-turn in less than 12 hours.
On the Radio 4 Today programme in the morning she said there was a strong case for allowing private clubs to choose to allow smoking on the premises because they were like people's homes.
In the Commons debate on the Health Bill during the afternoon she said the arguments were "finely balanced" on exempting clubs but refused to tell MPs how she intended to vote.
At the end of an impassioned debate she disowned her policy and joined Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and 10 other Cabinet ministers in voting for a complete ban. John Reid, the Defence Secretary, and five other Cabinet members voted against a total ban.
Officials said that Miss Hewitt had been "swayed" by the arguments in the debate. MPs cheered when the ban was approved by 384 votes to 184, a majority of 200.
Opening the debate, Miss Hewitt said that an extended ban could help 600,000 people to give up smoking. The Bill also proposed to raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 16 to 18.
In Scotland, a complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places comes into force on March 26 and one in Northern Ireland 12 months after that. The legislation paves the way for the Welsh Assembly to proceed with plans for a similar total ban.
The Labour manifesto promised at the election last year that smoking would be banned in all workplaces, as well as restaurants and pubs serving food. It suggested that non-food pubs and private clubs would be exempted, although smoking would not be permitted in the bar area.
Faced with a back-bench revolt, high-profile ministerial disagreements and the certain prospect of defeat, the Cabinet agreed that MPs should be allowed a free vote, rather than be whipped to support the policy that the party had put to the electorate.
Miss Hewitt said she now believed that it was right to extend the ban to all licensed premises, including bars, discos and nightclubs, even though less than four months ago she introduced the Bill which had proposed only a partial ban for pubs and exemption for private clubs, including gentlemen's clubs, working men's clubs and golf clubs.
She said the Bill would ban smoking in "virtually every enclosed public place and workplace" and would "save thousands of lives every year" as people would no longer be exposed to second-hand smoke.
Miss Hewitt said there were no plans to stop people smoking in their homes, although the ban would give the Government power to require certain vehicles to be smoke-free.
Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, who backed the exemption for private clubs but not for non-food pubs, mocked Miss Hewitt for her "handbrake turn".
He said: "We now have the utter humiliation of the Secretary of State voting against her own legislation. Never before has a Government minister brought forward a measure and voted against it in this way."
David Cameron, the Tory leader, who is trying to give up cigarettes, missed the vote because of the birth of his son. He had been expected to vote against any form of ban.
