[originaltext] The Lower House of the British Parliament has voted to ban smok

The Lower House of the British Parliament has voted to ban smoking in all enclosed public places in England, including all pubs and bars and even private members’ clubs. Scotland has already decided on a similar ban as have a number of other European countries. A complete ban wasn’t what the government intended when it introduced this legislation into parliament. It was cunning to greatly restrict public smoking, partly for the smokers’ own good, but also for the sake of staff who work in restaurants and other public places, and who’ve been forced to breathe in other people’s smoke. But the original plan was to allow smoking to continue in a kind of basic bar or pub which doesn’t serve food and in private members’ clubs. That has now been comprehensively defeated in the House of Commons.