Smoking bans in the United Kingdom

Laws restricting cigarettes in the UK

Because of the damage to health due to smoking in the United Kingdom it may be the first country to ban sales of cigarettes to people born after 2008. A smoking ban in England, making it illegal to smoke in all enclosed workplaces in England, came into force on 1 July 2007 as a consequence of the Health Act 2006. Similar bans had already been introduced by the rest of the United Kingdom: in Scotland on 26 March 2006, Wales on 2 April 2007 and Northern Ireland on 30 April 2007. Plain tobacco packaging and a smoking ban in cars with passengers under 18 were introduced under Children and Families Act 2014.

Before the ban many businesses voluntarily introduced bans on smoking mainly as a result of public feedback. The pub chain Wetherspoons was the first major chain to introduce a complete ban on indoor smoking, doing so in May 2006.

On 16 November 2004 a Public Health white paper proposed a smoking ban in almost all public places in England and Wales. Smoking restrictions would be phased in, with a ban on smoking in NHS and government buildings by 2006, in enclosed public places by 2007, and pubs, bars and restaurants (except pubs not serving food) by the end of 2008. On 26 October 2005, after external challenge and debates within the Cabinet, the government announced that it would continue with its plans. All workplaces, including restaurants and pubs selling food, would have to comply by summer 2007. However, there was widespread criticism from all sides of the argument on this, with a number of MPs threatening to try to overturn the bill. Many representatives of the pub trade told the Government that only a total ban would work, and over 90 MPs signed a motion demanding this, with over 100 signing a petition for a free vote on the issue. It was reported on 24 November that Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson nearly quit over the partial ban, but decided to stay to champion a total ban. On the same day, the government released the results of the public consultation, after Cancer Research UK demanded them under the Freedom of Information Act, which revealed that nearly 9 out of 10 respondents wanted a total ban. on 7 June 2006.

The ban came into force at 06:00 BST on 1 July 2007, as announced on 30 November 2006 by former Secretary of State for Health Patricia Hewitt, who called it "a huge step forward for public health". The blunder caused the city to briefly be dubbed Smoke on Trent.

On 30 June 2010, the recently formed Coalition Government announced that it would not be reviewing the ban. An attempt in October 2010 by Conservative MP David Nuttall to amend the law to exempt private members' clubs and pubs from the smoking ban was defeated in the House of Commons on its first reading.

As part of the implementation of the smoking ban, Transport for London announced that smoking would no longer be permitted in taxis, private hire vehicles and all London Buses premises, including all bus stop shelters. London Underground had already implemented a smoking ban on all its property (including all its station platforms, whether underground or not) much earlier, on 23 November 1987, as a result of the King's Cross fire five days before, likely caused by a discarded match. The Association of Train Operating Companies and Network Rail introduced an extended ban on smoking covering all railway property including all National Rail station platforms whether enclosed or not. The ban has since been extended to cover the use of electronic cigarettes. Smoking on board trains was banned in 2005 when both GNER and First Caledonian Sleeper withdrew smoking accommodation from their services. The Tyne and Wear Metro was the first public transport system to ban smoking in its entirety which has been enforced since the system first opened in 1980.

The ban is enforced by Environmental Health Officers in England, who issue warnings and offer advice before resorting to punitive measures and have had to issue a low frequency of fines since the law came into force. However, there were some objectors who generated higher profile legal cases, for instance Hugh Howitt, also known as Hamish Howitt, the landlord of the Happy Scots Bar in Blackpool who was the first landlord to be prosecuted for permitting smoking in a smoke free place under his control. On 2 August 2007, Howitt appeared before Blackpool Magistrates' Court and pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of failing to stop people smoking in his pub. On 2 December 2008, Howitt effectively had his premises licence revoked, after an appeal by Blackpool Council was upheld; he was not allowed to appeal, and Howitt had to close the Delboys Bar following the decision. There have been some incidents of violence perpetrated by people refusing to obey the ban, in one of which a former heavyweight boxer, James Oyebola, was shot in the head after he asked patrons at a nightclub to stop smoking and later died of his injuries. However, the view of enforcement authorities is that the smoke free workplace regulations are simple to understand, popular, and as a result largely "self policing". For a short while, bars in the UK that offered shisha (the smoking of flavoured tobacco through a pipe) were still allowed to provide their services inside the establishment, however the ban covered this area in late 2007 leading to a rapid decline in shisha bars.

A group calling themselves "Freedom To Choose" launched a campaign for a judicial review of the smoke free workplace regulations claiming a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998, as it does not respect the right to privacy of people who wish to smoke in public. Supporters of the regulations put forward counter arguments positing that the rights of smokers to indulge in their habit cease as soon as it negatively affects other people in the vicinity. In 2010, pub landlord Nick Hogan was briefly jailed for an offence related to the smoking ban. In 2012, it was reported that "Five years after the introduction of the smoking ban in England, almost seven out of 10 licensees want the legislation amended to allow for separate smoking rooms in pubs". A 2017 YouGov survey indicated growing support for the smoking ban, up to 83% from the 2007 figure of 78%. The ban was proving more popular among smokers where support had risen from 52% in 2009 to 64% in 2017.

On 4 October 2023, at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced his intention to phase out cigarette smoking in the UK by raising the minimum age to purchase cigarettes from 18 each year, every year until eventually no person can legally buy cigarettes. The proposal will be put before MPs in Parliament before potentially becoming law with Sunak promising Conservative MPs a whip free vote on the matter. A similar proposal was made by the Labour Party earlier that year. Plans for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, legislation implementing such a ban, were announced in the King's Speech during the 2023 State Opening of Parliament.