The Reform UK leader smoked outside the Westminster Arms and spoke in response to a potential cigarettes ban outside pubs.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier told reporters the loss of lives because of smoking is “preventable” and that his ministers would “take decisions” on an outdoor cigarettes ban.SOURCE: PA
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00:00So there's no economic argument, in fact you could argue that smokers are the heroes of the nation
00:04in terms of the amount of taxation they pay, but they did this in, they did this in Australia,
00:09they made smoking almost impossible, they taxed cigarettes to the extent where they're now £35 a
00:14packet, so the criminal gangs now don't bother with cocaine, forget that, cocaine's boring, it's fine.
00:19Thank you for GB the show tonight. Yeah. Yeah, perfect timing. It's been going very well.
00:24It's just a Benson that one. Doesn't really matter does it? Might as well smoke cannabis,
00:38that's fine. No, it would seem that drugs are fine. Very few people drink inside it,
00:44they drink outside it. Why? Because they're allowed to smoke outside.
00:48And if the government, I've been coming here for 30 years, regular basis, every week for 30 years,
00:53if the government say that I can't have a drink and smoke outside, I won't come back.
00:58And I'm one of hundreds of regular customers of this pub that takes that view. And look,
01:03you know, I do understand people in enclosed areas didn't like smoke, but you've got the
01:08option now, you can be inside, you can be outside, you can avoid it if you want to.
01:12I don't think the government have thought through the consequences of this. Are we really going to
01:16be smoke-free by 2030? Well, let me ask another question. Are we going to be drug-free by 2030?
01:21So what the government's doing, it's attacking something that's legal, because it's given up
01:27on attacking the illegal drugs trade. But if you tax tobacco too heavily, which we're doing,
01:32you regulate, almost ban people from smoking anywhere,
01:35what you do is you drive it into the hands of the criminals.