NO SMOKING IF CHILDREN ARE IN CAR

Controversial law could be passed in days

SMOKING in a vehicle carrying children could be banned within days. Peers last night unexpectedly backed a Labour plan that would give ministers the power to make it a criminal offence, punishable by a fine or points on a licence. The Government had argued that this would be very difficult to enforce, and might infringe civil liberties.

Instead, ministers favour a major campaign to highlight the dangers of smoking around young people, whose lungs are more vulnerable to smoke. But Lord Hunt, Labour’s health spokesman, persuaded colleagues the law was needed to protect children.

And Baroness Finlay, a former president of the Royal Society of Medicine, said: ‘A child in the back seat is effectively imprisoned in the vehicle for their own safety while travelling. Whatever adults do, they have no control over.’

The crossbench peer said surveys showed that a third of children had wanted an adult to stop smoking in a car but been too afraid to ask. The amendment to the Children and Families Bill will now go to the Commons, where it is said to have

growing support. Downing Street said last night the amendment, which applies only in England, is likely to be put to a free vote of MPs, possibly as soon as February 10.

Luciana Berger, Labour’s public health spokesman, said: ‘Tonight’s defeat sends a clear message – we need action.’

In 011, David Cameron said of this issue that as a believer in civil liberties he was ‘nervous about going into what people do inside a vehicle’. But yesterday a spokesman said the Prime Minister would listen to both sides.

Campaigners say smoking in a car makes toxic fumes 11 times more concentrated than in an open space. A Department of Health survey found 300,000 children a year visit GPs with problems linked to second-hand smoke.

Health Minister Earl Howe had offered a campaign against smoking in cars, rather than a law. He said: ‘If we cannot credibly enforce the law, the law itself lacks credibility.’

But Dr Penny Woods, of the British Lung Foun- dation, said: ‘A ban would help protect nearly half a million children who are exposed to toxic second-hand smoke in a car every week.’

The plan, which the Lords backed by votes to 197, does not ban smoking in cars, but gives Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt the option to make it an offence for a driver to ‘fail to prevent smoking in the vehicle when a child or children are present’.

Several Conservative peers expressed fears about the nanny state, saying that smoking could next be banned in homes.

But Lord Hunt said it followed the precedent of a 007 ban on smoking in vehicles used for work. He said: ‘There are more important principles than that [civil liberties], one of which is the need for child protection.’

Ministers already plan to put all cigarettes behind shop counters from April 015.

A YouGov poll two years ago found 78 per cent of people would support the ban.

Australia, Canada, five US states, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates have already outlawed smoking in cars around children.