SMOKING in pubs could return in Wales if political party UKIP Wales gets its way.
UKIP Wales has announced, in the run up to next May's Senedd elections, that it will back the lifting of the smoking ban to allow Welsh pub landlords to provide contained and ventilated ‘smoking rooms’ inside.
Where it is not desirable to construct smoking rooms, UKIP Wales would also give pub landlords the right to declare their pub ‘all smoking’ or ‘non-smoking’.
UKIP Leader & MS for Mid & West Wales, Neil Hamilton said:
“Welsh Labour has utterly failed the Welsh hospitality industry.
“It is preposterous that they refuse to present any tangible evidence for their draconian alcohol ban and curfew of 6pm. Pubs have been left high and quite literally dry by this Government.
“We must get people back down the local or face the total collapse of any remnants of the Welsh hospitality industry after these restrictions.
“Most of all, UKIP believes in freedom of choice. Freedom not to drink in smoke-filled rooms but also freedom to smoke if others are not inconvenienced.”
A 2017 poll by Populus found that around 60 per cent of the Welsh public supported the introduction of contained smoking rooms.
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