TWO years on from the introduction of the ban on smoking in public places, the majority of people still support it, a new survey has shown.
In the North West, 76 per cent of people support the ban and only 15 per cent oppose it.
The national YouGov survey of 13,000 people, broken down by region, found that in the North West:
· 76% of people in the region say they support the smokefree law, with just 15% opposing
· 87% of people say the law is good for the health of most workers
· 79% of people say the law is good for their own health.
The Health Act was aimed at protecting workers from the lethal effects of exposure to secondhand smoke, which increases the risks of heart disease and lung cancer.
In the North West, smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death, accounting for around 14,000 deaths annually.
Andrea Crossfield, director of Smokefree North West, said: “This new research demonstrates just how strongly people in the North West feel about the smokefree law. The vast majority of people do not want adults or children to breathe in other people’s smoke.
“Twenty two per cent of 14-17 year olds claim to smoke in the North West, and since 380,000 children of this age live here, that means 83,600 of them smoke. This is why we need to do more to make cigarettes less attractive, and why we are urging MPs to back the current Health Bill in Parliament to put cigarettes out of sight and out of reach for youngsters.”
Other separate studies from England and Scotland tracking smoking before and after the smokefree law, highlighted that it did not result in a general increase in smoking in the home.
TWO years on from the introduction of the ban on smoking in public
places, the majority of people still support it, a new survey has shown.
Majority still support smoking ban
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
6 Comments
That’s a no-brainer and stating the obvious. Have these people nothing better to spend their money on?
Talk about asking the question to get the right answer.
Have they asked the same question about 24hr drinking?
I was a member of a YouGov panel but I packed in due to quite regularly not finding my choice in the options.
I laugh when I read these surveys. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Now if they had asked:
Do you believe a business owner should have the right to choose smoking or non smoking in their pubs and clubs. 70% consistently say yes.
Ask, should there be smoking and non smoking venues 70% will also say yes.
But of course the anti smoking lobby would never ask such an OPEN question.
Firstly, allowing smoking in some pubs would expose children to less smoke, not more. Children would not be allowed in smoking pubs. The smoking ban had little to do with the exposure of any non-smoker to tobacco smoke. Most passive smoking occurred in the home and more does since the ban.
Secondly, YouGov surveys are paid for by organisations with an interest in the result; and so the questions are designed to elicit the required response. The question asked in this case can be seen on the CRUK website in a July 1 press release. The question was “How strongly or not do you support the ban?” (not “How strongly or not do you oppose the ban?” which,alone, would have got a different response). 57% strongly supported and 19% supported. Saying you supported parts of the ban and not others was not an option. It was also not an option to say you were indifferent to the ban; only that you didn’t know. It therefore seems likely that those supporting parts of the ban but not the ban on smoking rooms in pubs or private members smoking clubs, would be forced to answer that they supported the ban. Were smokers choice groups to have the financial resources, taken from the taxpayer, of these fakecharities (google it) then they would no doubt be able to produce a survey showing the opposite.
Can I add that 12% were reported to oppose the ban and 8% strongly oppose, giving a toatl of 20%, not the 15% you quote.
Jon,
An excellent summary. CRUK are past masters at the art of smoke and mirrors, when I headed up Freedom to Choose we caught them out in blatant manipulation of one of there on-line polls. I cannot remember the exact figures but at one stage 70% or so were against the ban, the poll disappeared and then re-appeared in their results page with the result reversed. They challenged on this and waffled on about the poll company collating the result.