Downing Street Says

Put that the Government had said it was sticking by its manifesto commitment on smoking, but there now appeared to be a situation in which the Minister in charge of the policy had said she would vote against the line laid don in the manifesto, and was that a good way to run a government, the PMOS said that he thought that was not the position. The position was that the Government’s manifesto was committed to putting in place a 95% ban. That remained the position of the Government, and the Government remained committed to, at its lowest level, that there should be a 95% ban.

However, following consultation, it was clear that the public mood was in a different place, and it was also clear that the industry had real concerns about enforcing a 95% ban. Equally, there were different opinions amongst MPs and Ministers, so therefore, the right thing to do was to give MPs on this one-off issue a free vote.

Asked should that not have been sorted out before the manifesto was written, the PMOS said he was not going to speak about the process of the manifesto as it was a Party matter. However, in terms of Government policy, where there were clear concerns identified on issues on which there were conflicting demands and rights, it was proper to allow a free vote.

Asked what consultation had taken place, the PMOS said that there had been a consultation process launched by the Department of Health.

Asked if that had been between the announcement of the partial ban, the PMOS said there had been a consultation with the industry, and the industry had highlighted their concerns about trying to separate through the non-food areas.

Asked about the public mood, the PMOS said that in terms of the public mood, people had been able to track though opinion polls and other means, where the public mood on this issue was. In terms of the industry, there had been clear concerns expressed.

Asked if human rights had been an issue, the PMOS replied that as he had said this morning, there had been various reports and concerns raised, and he was not aware that the human rights report was a particular factor. There had been other reports that had helped shape this outcome.

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» Thursday, January 12, 2006

Smoking

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