Government plays the numbers game with smoking ban

The government has released figures suggesting that, rather than take money out of the economy, bringing in a smoking ban will see a net gain of up to £2.7bn every year. Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England, identified £680m saved by having a healthier workforce, which could produce more goods, £140m saved through fewer sick days, £430m saved because less production would be lost to cigarette breaks and £100m saved by not having to clean up behind smokers. Donaldson denied that bans were bad for business, saying that he had visited Ireland, California and New York and had found bars and restaurants "thronging with people". Simon Clark, the director of the smokers' lobby group Forest, said: "Sir Liam is sticking his head in the sand if he genuinely believes there is no economic downturn from banning smoking in pubs and clubs." "A recent study by two New York trade associations said that the smoking ban has cost over 2,000 jobs, equalling $28.5m in lost wages and $71.5m in lost sales." Earlier this week Sky News claimed that it had filmed a hotel in Ireland flouting the ban, suggesting that it’s not just pubs that are afraid of the economic impact of a ban. Sean McEniff, chairman of the McEniff Hotel Group, which owns the Holyrood Hotel in Bundoran, named by Sky, denied any knowledge of the disregarding of the ban. McEniff said: "I was quite certain that it was being complied with myself. "I want to say very clearly I'm very disappointed that it's not - I didn't encourage anyone to break the ban but I do feel there should be a constitutional case taken against the ban." In Ireland many members of the hospitality industry felt that the ban was imposed on them without fair consultation, as increasingly is the feeling in the UK. The decision to try and get backing for a ban using cold hard economics comes as the populace is bombarded with wildly opposing polls from the pro-ban, pro-choice and pro-status quo camps. A poll released by SA Brain as part of the Forest-backed Pub Users' Ballot on Smoking survey found that only 12% of bar staff support the idea of a ban, with 80% of the 1,326 people questioned in 22 Brain's pubs opposed to a total ban on smoking in pubs. This was supported by a report in the News of the World, which said that a poll by the Office of National Statistics found that only 20% of people wanted a total ban in pubs. However, 86% wanted a ban on smoking in the workplace. In other polls 17% want smoking banned (British Market Research Bureau), or 18% (Camra), or 24% (Populus). And then there was a Mori poll of 221 Londoners which found 71% were bothered by other people's smoke in enclosed public places. A further Mori poll reported that nearly 90% of people in the UK want workplaces and restaurants to be smokefree, and 54% prefer smokefree pubs. Maybe the government is right with its economic move. As any smoker will tell you, give up smoking and those itchy fingers find their way round more pints than before. But while this is good news for bars, it’s bad news for efforts to crack down on binge drinking. More joined-up thinking needed maybe. Or maybe it won’t be more pints. David Hockney, the artist and member of Forest’s support council, said that New Yorkers may be smoking less, but they're taking more drugs. "When the health people say you would be healthier if you don't smoke, they don't know that because they don't know what would replace it. "There's no doubt you smoke to calm yourself. I know I do. I prefer that to Prozac. I think it's healthier. I couldn't go to another party where they're all drinking water and on Prozac and telling you off for smoking. So I will avoid New York," he said.