Victory for the nation's hearts
- The BHF worked with organisations such as Cancer Research UK and the British Medical Association in the Smokefree Action Coalition.
- Smoking kills over 30,000 people from circulatory and heart disease in the UK each year.
Victory for the nation’s hearts
2005 was a landmark year for organisations campaigning to protect non-smokers and save smokers’ lives.
Action
We estimate that non-smokers who live or work in smoke-filled atmospheres have up to a 50% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease – 2.2 million people in the UK are routinely exposed to smoke at work and millions who live with smokers are also at a higher risk of disease and premature death.
This is why the British Heart Foundation has been at the forefront of the battle to ban smoking in enclosed public places.
A ban on smoking in public places had already been introduced in the Republic of Ireland and with support from the medical profession and the public steadily picking up across the UK, the wind of change was gaining strength.
As a key member of the Scotland Can campaign, the BHF successfully lobbied and supported the Scottish Executive’s promise to bring in legislation outlawing smoking in public places.
With this accomplished we shifted our focus to Westminster, working with other organisations in the Smokefree Action Coalition to press for a total ban in pubs, clubs and workplaces.
The anti-smoking lobbying group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) – for which BHF is a core funder – was pivotal in coordinating the campaign in the UK. Few senior Westminster politicians publicly supported a ban, but more than two years of relentless lobbying by campaigners, including ASH and the BHF, finally bore results.
Impact
In February 2006 Westminster MPs voted by a huge margin to ban smoking from all pubs and clubs in England with legislation expected by May 2007. Scotland became legally smoke-free in March 2006 and both Wales and Northern Ireland look set to follow suit.
“This is a landmark victory for the public health of this country.”
Peter Hollins, Director General, BHF
Next steps
In 2006 the BHF will lobby for the earliest possible implementation of the ban across the UK, aiming for No Smoking Day on 14 March 2007.