The Welsh Assembly is soon to vote on the Public Heath Bill. One of the proposed measures is to impose a blanket ban on using e-cigarettes in workplaces, in both the public and private sectors. The National Assembly for Wales Finance Committee’s report into the Public Health Bill says that this measure could impose costs to businesses and taxpayers of up to £14.2 million.
Lee Canning, Wales Coordinator of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:
"Workplaces have every right to set their own rules but there is simply no need for politicians to impose draconian and costly laws like this. The Finance Committee's report itself says that the ban could cost taxpayers and businesses nearly £15 million and at a time when we need to make savings it is unjustifiable to impose new costs on hard-pressed families and job-creating firms. Instead of seeking to ban, regulate and tax everything that the High Priests of the Nanny State in the public health lobby doesn't like, we should instead encourage personal responsibility through information and education."