Smoking In The Palace Of Westminster

EDM number 22 in 1997-98, proposed by John Austin on 15/05/1997.

That this House welcomes the appointment of a Minister for Public Health and the Prime Minister's commitment to mount a crusade against the killer disease that unnecessarily claim too many lives; also welcomes the Prime Minister's pledge to introduce measures to reduce smoking and ban tobacco advertising; notes the damage to health caused both by smoking and passive smoking, resulting in over 150,000 deaths each year, equivalent to five times the number of deaths from road accidents, use of unlawful drugs and AIDS put together, and the additional costs of early retirement through ill-health and absence from work; regrets the absence of a comprehensive policy on smoking in the Palace of Westminster and the fact that honourable Members and hundreds of staff employed in the House are forced to work in an environment damaging to their health; and calls upon the Minister for Public Health to ensure that the various committees and departments concerned with accommodation in the Palace of Westminster draw up a co-ordinated and comprehensive policy to ensure a no-smoking policy in all communal areas and areas accessible to the general public with the possible exception of a limited number of exempted areas such as the Strangers' Bar and Members' Smoking Room, provided that alternative accommodation with similar facilities is available to those who wish to use such facilities in a smoke-free environment.

This motion has been signed by a total of 38 MPs.