Argument smoulders on while groups argue about total smoking ban

A new survey in the UK is suggesting that the majority of people in England and Wales would support a complete ban on smoking in workplaces.

According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Cancer Research UK, 73% of the 1,000 people they surveyed said a ban should be applied without exception.

This poll comes ahead of the Health Improvement and Protection Bill, which is due to go before Parliament in November.

At present the government has proposed exempting private clubs and pubs not serving prepared food, from the legislation, but many believe that smoke-free legislation must be comprehensive if it is to succeed.

The poll also found that 85% of those surveyed would still patronise bars and pubs at least as often if they were smoke-free.

Cancer Research UK's chief executive Professor Alex Markham Cancer Research UK's chief executive has also said he believes the vast majority of people say they would still visit pubs if they were smoke-free.

He says this view is supported by the experiences of places such as Ireland and New York, where there is clear evidence that being smokefree does not damage profits.

Director of Ash Deborah Arnott says the public wants action to end second-hand smoke at work.

That apparently now kills more than 600 people at work every year; three times the number of deaths from industrial accidents.

It also causes many thousands of asthma attacks and episodes of illness.

Arnott says the exemptions for pubs and clubs must be dropped from the final Bill as they are pointless and damaging.

The smokers' rights group Forest has dismissed the survey as complete nonsense, and completely off the wall.

Spokesman for the group Neil Rafferty says the poll differs from other polls in the UK, which show that about two-thirds of people are very much against a ban on smoking in pubs.

Rafferty believes that most people want to see further restrictions in public places, but the vast majority do not want an outright ban in pubs.