I AM not a smoker and I think the steady decline of smoking in our society has been a very good thing for public health.

But I have to say I raised an eyebrow at the recent news that the government is looking to extend the smoking ban in England to some outdoor spaces, including pub gardens. 

I am a pragmatist, I do not take an overly ideological approach to these things.  I am not someone who would oppose measures like this on purely libertarian grounds.

But I do think we should be led by evidence and we should also consider how the potential wider impacts of a ban like this are balanced against the supposed benefits.

In Devon we are lucky to have a fantastic traditional pub industry and many of our pubs are an important feature of the local community, with some dating back centuries.

If you want good beer, you will struggle to find a better county to visit than Devon.

The Campaign for Real Ale’s Good Beer Guide now has 125 Devon pubs included, more than any other South West region. And our pubs are loved by locals and tourists alike, with local tourist industries relying greatly on the availability of quality watering holes for food and drink.

But some pubs are increasingly struggling or finding themselves forced to close.

There is no compensation for the lost business that could come with a fresh ban, and unlike indoor smoking I see much less of an argument here about the impact on others for those who want to have a cigarette in the open air.

This would simply be an attempt to make life a little more difficult and less enjoyable for those who have been smoking perfectly legally for, in some cases, many decades and have not been able to kick the habit. 

This is quite different from the legislation Rishi Sunak proposed last year.

That change would have involved gradually raising the minimum legal age for purchasing tobacco products, so that smoking was eventually outlawed for everyone.

But that would only have meant that people who have never actually had the legal right to buy cigarettes would simply never obtain that right.

It would stop new smokers from developing the habit. That is not the same as bans which affect people who are already addicted to smoking.

If this fresh legislation on outdoor smoking was going to save many lives and reduce burdens on the NHS then I could see its merits, but I have not seen the evidence that it would do that.

We should be careful before we start restricting people’s liberties.

It is a tempting thing for governments to do – it does not cost them any money.

But we have to consider the wider impacts, including on businesses and community assets like our local pubs.

Keir Starmer said he would lead a government which “treads more lightly on people’s lives”.

So far, I am not seeing much evidence of that.