When Keir Starmer came to power he promised a politics that would 'tread more lightly on our lives', but this suggestion of an outright ban on smoking in public places is a direct contradiction of that.
And given that pubs are places where anyone can go to get a few hours of peace and enjoyment and to indulge their bad habits, all this does is to reinforce his image as something of a too-serious kill-joy!
An own goal...?
The problem with choosing this particular policy is that there is no united campaign group clamouring for an outside public ban. And there is no real health benefit to it either - it's relatively easy for non-smokers to avoid inhaling the smoke of smokers sitting outdoors!
It's really just unpleasant for non-smokers rather than a health risk...
Worse, it may divisive, it certainly got the media hit-up debating it: around 50% are for it, 50% against, and that's precisely what politics doesn't need.
And now the discourse is on Labour as the nanny state. People are wondering what's next... a ban on crisps or chicken shops, I've heard that a few times.
The ironic thing is those are probably worse for the nation's health than the side effects of passive outdoor smoking!
Final thoughts... we should just leave our smokers to puff away in peace!
Britain's tough anti-smoking practices are already sufficient to let smoking drift away in the longer term...
The indoor ban, ENORMOUS taxes (it's pushing £20 for a box of 20 these days) have already been enough to see smoking rates plummet, and IF it gets enacted the age-phased outright ban on sales should be enough to kill the habit altogether a few decades down the line.