LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday he supported the idea of banning smoking in some outdoor spaces, including pub gardens, as a way of reducing the pressure on the state-run National Health Service and the cost to taxpayers.
While precise details would be worked out later, Starmer said 80,000 people die each year from smoking and he wanted to reduce deaths from preventable diseases.
Asked if he supported a ban on smoking in some public places, including pub gardens, Starmer told Channel 4 News: “I want us to move to a smoke-free environment, want to reduce those preventable deaths. I want to reduce the burden on the NHS, desperately needed ... and obviously I want to reduce the burden on the taxpayer. So, yes, I am supportive.”
The government is considering a smoking ban in pub and restaurant gardens and terraces, outdoor sports stadiums, children’s parks and pavements near hospitals and universities, according to documents seen by The Sun newspaper.
Britain’s center-left Labour Party, which won a general election last month, said in its campaign manifesto it planned to introduce some of the world’s strictest anti-smoking rules by banning younger people from smoking.
The previous Conservative government had announced similar measures but the plan failed to become law before the election was called.
Britain banned smoking in almost all enclosed public spaces, including bars and workplaces, in 2007. Cancer Research UK said this led to an estimated 1.9 million fewer smokers, and research in the British Medical Journal estimated there were 1,200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in the year following.
Britain’s hospitality industry warned a stricter smoking ban could force some businesses to close.
“A ban on smoking in outdoor spaces comes with the prospect of serious economic harm to hospitality venues,” said Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of trade body UKHospitality.
“This ban would not only affect pubs and nightclubs, but hotels, cafes and restaurants.”
About 6.4 million people in Britain were smokers in 2022, the Office for National Statistics has estimated, around 13 percent of the adult population.
That is much lower than other European countries such as Italy, Germany and France, where between 18 percent-23 percent of adults smoke, according to OECD figures.
The government estimates smoking costs Britain’s health services 17 billion pounds ($22.37 billion) a year and there is strong support for greater restrictions on smokers from medical and health care experts.
UK PM Starmer supports tougher outdoor smoking rules to ease pressure on health service
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UK PM Starmer supports tougher outdoor smoking rules to ease pressure on health service
- UK government is considering a smoking ban in pub and restaurant gardens, outdoor sports stadiums, children’s parks and pavements near hospitals and universities
Rohingya refugees hope new leaders can pave a path home
- Some 1.7 million Rohingya Muslims displaced in Myanmar's military crackdown live in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Rohingya refugees living in squalid camps in Bangladesh have elected a leadership council, hoping it can improve conditions and revive efforts to secure their return home to Myanmar.
Spread over 8,000 acres in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, the camps are home to 1.7 million members of the stateless group, many of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown that is now subject to a genocide probe at the UN court.
In July, the refugees held their first elections since their influx began eight years ago, resulting in the formation of the United Council of Rohang (UCR).
“They are working to take us home,” said Khairul Islam, 37, who back home had a thriving timber business.
The new council has brought him a glimmer of hope amid an uncertain future.
“We can hardly breathe in these cramped camp rooms... all our family members live in a single room,” he said.
“It’s unbearably hot inside. Back in Myanmar, we didn’t even need a ceiling fan. In summer, we used to sit under tall trees,” Islam said, his eyes welling up.
More than 3,000 voters from across 33 refugee camps cast their ballots to elect an executive committee and five rotating presidents to focus on human rights, education and health.
Addressing a gathering at one of the camps, UCR president Mohammad Sayed Ullah urged refugees not to forget the violence that forced the mostly Muslim group to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
“Never forget that we left our parents’ graves behind. Our women died on the way here. They were tortured and killed... and some drowned at sea,” said Sayed Ullah, dressed in a white full-sleeved shirt and lungi.
“We must prepare ourselves to return home,” he said, prompting members of the audience to nod in agreement.
A seat at the table
“UCR wants to emerge as the voice of the Rohingyas on the negotiation table,” Sayed Ullah later told AFP.
“It’s about us, yet we were nowhere as stakeholders.”
The council is not the first attempt to organize Rohingya refugees.
Several groups emerged after 2017, including the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, once led by prominent activist Mohib Ullah.
But he was murdered in 2021.
And even before that, many organizations were shut down after a major 2019 rally, when the Rohingya said they would go home only with full rights and safety guarantees.
“Some newspapers misrepresented us, claiming we wanted to stay permanently in Bangladesh,” Sayed Ullah said.
“Many organizers were detained. The hardest blow was the assassination of Mohib Ullah.”
But trust is slowly building up again among the Rohingya crammed in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.
“Of course we will return home,” said 18-year-old Mosharraf, who fled the town of Buthidaung with his family.
“UCR will negotiate for better education. If we are better educated, we can build global consensus for our return,” he told AFP.
Security threats
Many refugees have started approaching the body with complaints against local Rohingya leaders, reflecting a slow but noticeable shift in attitudes.
On a recent sunny morning, an AFP reporter saw more than a dozen Rohingya waiting outside the UCR office with complaints.
Some said they were tortured while others reported losing small amounts of gold they had carried while fleeing their homes.
Analysts say it remains unclear whether the new council can genuinely represent the Rohingya or if it ultimately serves the interests of Bangladeshi authorities.
“The UCR ‘elections’ appear to have been closely controlled by the authorities,” said Thomas Kean, senior consultant at the International Crisis Group.
Security threats also loom large, undermining efforts to forge political dialogue.
Armed groups like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization continue to operate in the camps.
A report by campaign group Fortify Rights said at least 65 Rohingyas were killed in 2024.
“Violence and killings in the Rohingya camps need to stop, and those responsible must be held to account,” the report quoted activist John Quinley as saying.
