Pubs must apply for a 'licence to smoke'

Pubs and restaurants could be forced to apply for licences to allow smoking on the premises, it emerged today.

Health Secretary John Reid is said to have drawn up a radical new licensing scheme to clamp down on smoking in public places.

Leaks of the long-awaited White Paper on public health suggest businesses will have to meet strict new conditions for smoking in "confined public spaces".

Local authorities will decide how many licences are issued in their area. The controversial plan could mean the end of smoking in most pubs, restaurants, offices and shopping centres, and would signal a sea change in attitudes to smoking in England.

It is understood Dr Reid is seeking Cabinet approval for the scheme.

Details of the plans have been sent to colleagues on the Cabinet's domestic affairs committee last week. If it goes ahead, the scheme would be a brilliant political manoeuvre by the Government.

It would allow ministers to appear tough on public health issues while shifting the backlash from smokers onto town halls, which will have the final say over where people can and cannot light up.

Dr Reid has been under intense pressure from the medical community to take action on the issue.

But he and other ministers clearly feared that if they led the charge in imposing a ban, this could lose the Labour Party millions of votes.

Department of Health advisers have spent months agonising over a solution.

Under the plans, which have not been confirmed, businesses applying for the licences would have to meet a raft of conditions - among them protecting children from smoke and minimising the health risk to employees. Any restaurant or pub open to children would be unlikely to be granted a licence.

Smoking in areas where staff work, such as bars, would also be banned. However, enclosed smoking rooms in office buildings could be permitted, while licences could be granted for well-ventilated areas in pubs, clubs or restaurants not used by children.

Dozens of local authorities in England have already made clear they want the power to stop smoking in public places.

Such bans have been in place for many years in some American cities and states, including California and New York. Smoking in public places is also illegal in Ireland.

Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell is publicly committed to introducing a ban north of the border.