Yesterday’s Queen’s speech to Parliament has indirectly hinted at the manoeuvring going on behind the scenes in Government over the proposed crackdown on the sales of cigarettes. The Government had been widely expected to unveil new legislation targeting the alcohol and cigarette industries, but instead there was only one rather vague reference to improving “public health” and some unspecified “measures to protect children and young people from the harm caused by smoking”.
Pundits are suggesting that the measures have been put on hold due to infighting between Gordon Brown’s new minister Lord Mandelson and the cabinet ministers Alan Johnson (health) and Jacqui Smith (home secretary). Mandelson is said to be against Johnson and Smith’s campaign to create tougher legislation regarding the sales of cigarettes and alcohol for fear of the damage it may cause to small businesses.
The proposals had been set to see cigarette vending machines and the public display of cigarettes banned, meaning they would have had to be sold under the counter. There were also suggestions that the packing would be made plainer. Yesterday, in the drinks industry, plans to stop supermarkets selling cheap alcohol as a loss leader to entice customers were put on hold, though it will become illegal to offer such promotions as ‘drink all you can for £10’ and “women drink free”. Happy hour, some will be relieved to hear, also survived the cull.
The ‘will they won’t they’ wavering has shed an interesting light on the governmental balancing act between the economic needs of the country with their self-avowed determination to combat cancer in the UK. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives were against the proposals. Considering Mandelson’s record of never giving up - no matter how many times he gets shot down - I’d say its odds on that he is going to win this war. In any case, keen observers of the blue-nosed smokers standing in hoards outside bars, shivering in the name of addiction, are forced to question whether getting rid of over-priced vending machines and de-glamourising already fairly dull fag packets was going to make much of a difference anyway.