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Originally Posted by Chris T
The Labour Party says it's right, and put it in its manifesto. The electorate democratically (within the limitations of our system) agreed with them and put them in power.
The Cabinet has agreed the wording of the Bill, and has introduced it to Parliament. It *will* be passed into Law, and it is the stated intention of the Health secretary that the new law will be a precursor to an outright ban within three years - three years, incidentally, is still within the lifetime of the current Parliament.
Where you say 'there may never be such legislation': on some of your points, maybe, but on the issue of smoking where food is served ... well, stick your head in the sand if you want. You'll be forced to come to terms with it within about 18 months from now.
It's interesting what you say about Government and other parties having to listen to a powerful section of the populace ... do you really think there's a cat in hell's chance of this being repealed once it's passed? Especially as in the UK, only 25% of people smoke and that number is dwindling steadily?
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Just because an item is in a political parties manifesto doesn't mean that the voting populace put them in power because of that one item. It could be other items in the manifesto weighed against what was in the other parties manifestos that enabled them to win.
If you remember correctly the wording of the bill resulted in delays to its publication and was altered significantly just prior to publication. Many bills are introduced to Parliament and never result in legislation or are altered so much that the resultant legislation is completely different to what was originally on the table. Don't forget also that opposition parties often take a stance against government proposals, particularly on highly emotive issues where a fair proportion of government MPs may be (and in the case of a complete smoking ban are) at odds with their leadership. I suggest that your emphatic *will* be altered to *MAY*.