Going up in a puff of smoke?

Abstract

Should tobacco companies be banned from sponsoring sporting events? The BMA thinks they should; so does the Labour party, though not some of its MPs. The government disagrees, but some Conservatives favour the idea. Such is the division of opinion that the chances of pushing a private member's Bill through the Commons to prohibit the cigarette companies from pumping an estimated ?8 million a year into sport are next to none. And so it proved when Conservative backbencher Roger Sims (Chislehurst) tried his luck recently. The procedures of the House require a vote to be taken on the second reading of a private member's Bill before 2 30 pm on the Friday that it is debated. If the discussion is still going on at that time it is adjourned until some future date, in the case of Mr Sims's Bill, 14 March. In practice, however, the measure goes to the back of a long queue of private members' legislation and is, to all intents and purposes, killed off. Mr Sims's Bill suffered such fate. It is doubtful that this came as a surprise to Mr Sims or his supporters. The uninitiated who do not follow parliamentary proceedings closely, however, must be increasingly bemused by the plethora of proposed smoking legislation, which receives sub? stantial publicity in the press and broadcasting media and then seems to sink without trace. What, for instance, happened to George Foulkes's Bill to restrict smoking in public places? The original was withdrawn on 3 February after a revised version, the Tobacco Smoking (Public Places) (No 2) Bill was tabled. But shortly after the debate on Mr Sims's measure had been adjourned a list of private Bills still awaiting a second reading was read out by the deputy speaker, Ernest Armstrong. If any of the measures are uncontroversial they are usually passed through on the nod. If contentious an MP or government whip can object, whereupon a specific date can be named for the second reading. But in the case of Mr Foulkes's Bill no day was named so it is unlikely to see the light of day again. You could be forgiven for thinking that many MPs are less than committed to the measures that they put before the Commons, but that is to do the majority of them an injustice. The old hands are fully aware that certain pieces of private legislation have about as much chance of getting past their colleagues as Ferdinand Marcos has of owning a holiday home in the Philippines. The Commons, however, is not just a legislative chamber; it is also a forum for debate. And there are few better ways of generating public interest in a subject close to an MP's heart than to enshrine it in a Bill, however unlikely it is to succeed.