FEWER than a fifth of people support the Government’s proposals for banning smoking in public places — with exemptions — a new poll has shown.

As a public-health measure, the proposal is the least popular of the five contained in last year’s White Paper, with only one in 20 people making it their top priority. The need to curtail drug-trafficking and binge-drinking were considered far more important.

The poll, which was carried out by Populus for Forest, the pro-smoking group, also finds that about a third of people favour a complete ban on smoking, with no exemptions.

The consultation period on the Government’s proposal — to ban smoking in public places except in pubs that do not serve food — ends on Monday.

The only consistent pattern to emerge from a series of polls conducted by Populus for both Forest and the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association is that a majority of people still wants to see some kind of choice. Almost three quarters (73 per cent) think that there should be smoking and non-smoking areas in pubs, with personal freedom to pick preferences.

Simon Clark, of Forest, said: “We are not surprised by these results. People do support the concept of legislation, with more non-smoking areas, better ventilation and possibly setting aside areas for smoking.It is difficult to know why people are rejecting (the government proposals), but I think it is because they see it as a bit of a fudge. It’s illogical.”

For its latest poll, Populus interviewed a random sample of 1,170 adults by telephone between August 12 and 14. While 73 per cent agreed that “there should be a free choice of smoking and non-smoking facilities. Everyone should be free to choose their preference”, 26 per cent disagreed.

When asked to rank a series of measures in order of priority for improving public health, more than half (51 per cent) put stopping drug trafficking top of the list, and more than a fifth (21 per cent) said tackling binge drinking. Only 5 per cent said they wanted to see a restriction on smoking in public places to reduce the number of smokers.

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