I love the nanny state, but let’s leave outdoor smokers to puff away in peace | Martha Gill

When asked about these plans – leaked last week to the Sun – Keir Starmer said: “[My] starting point on this is to remind everybody that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking.” Fair point. But we’ve done quite a lot on smokers now, haven’t we? There’s a complete generational ban on the way. The price of a cigarette has rocketed and smoking rates have dropped further and faster than in most other rich countries. You can’t really argue that secondhand smoke is a problem in the fresh air, or that young people will pick up the habit at a pub, because that’s covered by the aforementioned age ban. We’ve been sensible, and it has worked, but it’s edging now into neurosis. We’re the mother who won’t let her eight-year-old eat lunch at other people’s houses in case the forks aren’t sterilised.