Sir Keir Starmer has defended his government's decision to consider an outdoor smoking ban for pub gardens and sports venues. A report released on Thursday morning suggests the prime minister is considering a ban in certain outdoor areas including pub gardens and outside hospitals. "Over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking. That's a preventable death and it's a huge burden on the NHS and it's a burden on the taxpayer," Mr Starmer said.
Report by Kennedyl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Report by Kennedyl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
đ
NewsTranscript
00:00My starting point on this is to remind everyone that over 80,000 people lose
00:07their lives every year because of smoking. That's a preventable death, it's
00:12a huge burden on the NHS and of course it's a burden on the taxpayer. So yes we
00:17are going to take decisions in this space, more details will be revealed but
00:22this is a preventable series of deaths and we've got to take the action to
00:27reduce the burden on the NHS and reduce the burden on the taxpayer. I think it's
00:31important to get the balance right but everybody watching this who uses the
00:36NHS will know that it's on its knees. We have to relieve the burden and that's
00:41why I spoke before the election about moving to a preventative model when it
00:46comes to health. I want the NHS back on its feet but I also want it fit for the
00:50next you know 75 years just as we've had a brilliant 75 years already and
00:57that means taking action in relation to preventable deaths and these are 80,000
01:02a year preventable deaths.