Sun Reveals Plans for a Smoking Ban

On August 29, The Sun revealed Government plans to dramatically extend the existing indoor smoking ban to a raft of outdoor areas, including pub gardens. The front page story blew the lid on one of the most seismic shifts in public policy of modern times. Weeks of fierce debate dominated the public discourse, and eventually triggered a u-turn, with the Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirming he was softening the policy to exclude hospitality settings. The story emerged when we were passed a cache of government documents outlining the plans for an outdoor smoking ban. They were clearly at an advanced stage, and laid out in great detail the areas that would be targeted, including beer gardens, outside football stadiums, hospitals, schools and parks. Given the highly sensitive nature of the leak, it had to be handled with great care, especially to protect the source of the story. We reported these plans at great length, not just in the newspaper but online and with video of Jack Elsom, the reporter who broke the story, explaining the details and ramifications. When the story dropped that night, it caught fire across the media. Newsnight broke into their programme to cover The Sun’s frontpage and discuss its possible impacts. This was followed by wall-to-wall coverage on the airwaves and online the next day. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was forced to confirm the story was true when quizzed during a trip to Paris. The debate continued for weeks, with questions raised in Parliament and in the media. We followed up the original reporting with warnings from landlords on the impact of the pub garden smoking ban, championing the hospitality industry which was still bearing the scars of the pandemic. It eventually led to Mr Streeting abandoning banning smoking in pub gardens, a decision also revealed by The Sun. Without us revealing the initial policy, the pub garden smoking ban would likely have been foisted upon the nation without due time for the debate which was only possible because we made it public.