THE Leader of the House of Commons has downplayed the importance of the Government’s proposal to ban smoking outdoors, claiming it is not a key priority for ministers.
Lucy Powell also declined to identify taxes that might go up in the forthcoming Budget when challenged on the so-called economic black hole discovered by Labour.
She told GB News: “Well, it's not our only priority right now at all. We've got a packed agenda of things we want to change, things that the country wants to change, things that were voted for at the election, which involve raising people's living standards, getting that much-needed growth back in the economy.
“Not growth just for its sake, but growth that can support the living standards of ordinary people right across the country, getting those NHS waiting lists down, tackling crime, illegal migration, making sure there’s opportunity for our young people, and getting energy bills lower in the longer term as well.”
Asked how the Government can claim to be promoting growth when the new smoking ban may see some pubs close, Powell said: “I would not accept that premise.
“Look, what we've got here is a consensus, really, that's built over recent times that we want to aspire to get to a position where we've got a smoke-free nation.
“That's why the previous Conservative government brought forward a bill to progressively increase the age by which people could buy cigarettes, a bill that we are taking forward that will also tackle the scourge of vapes.
“Young people are now turning to vapes and there's a lot of unknowns there about the health impacts, because smoking is a real killer. It kills 80,000 people a year.”
She added: “What I would reassure you and hospitality businesses about is that any such measures, should they come forward, we will work closely with business, with licensing authorities and others, about the timescale of their implementation and how they would be operationalised, and we will do that in partnership and in consultation.
“This won't be a case of just imposing things on businesses that are damaging. And the other thing I would say is that actually, many of these same arguments were made about ending smoking inside pubs and restaurants, and actually, what we saw after that was an increase in people going to pubs and restaurants, because many non-smokers do find being close by to people smoking something that they don't like.”
Asked which taxes might rise in the forthcoming Budget, she said: “We have been very clear that we won't be raising Income Tax, National Insurance, and VAT…
“All our policies and all our plans that we put in our manifesto, that we got elected on with a huge mandate to deliver, all of those policies are fully costed.
“But what we've found is that there are no reserves left. In effect, there's no money left.
“We've got to make the sums that up…I’m not going to speculate about what's in or not in the Budget. I don't know anyway.”
She added: “What I will say is the biggest impact on people's living standards, on their disposable incomes, on their real incomes, is when the economy crashes, is when there's a run on the pound, when interest rates go up because the sums don't add up and the markets lose confidence.
“That's the situation that we were facing when we first got elected. So that's why economic stability and making the sums add up is so important…that's why that's got to be our first priority.”
