Not just smokers

In the rush to ban all things smoking, the zealots have finally let their rage get the better of them. Current estimates say that around 21% of adults smoke in the UK, and 27% intend to vote Labour (these are not intended to be definitive figures). So, at first glance, it appears that Labour voters outnumber smokers.

Except… the figure for Labour voters includes a lot of smokers. An awful lot.

Leaving that aside, let’s look at the 79% who don’t smoke and consider…

What of those who don’t smoke but who own, run or work for pubs and the breweries and caterers that supply them? The slot machine gambling companies, their maintenance and supply people? Those drivers who deliver crisps, pies, pork scratchings and pickled eggs. All of them smokers, or not? They are all affected when the pub goes under. Fifty-two pubs per week, at the current rate. That’s a lot of lost delivery work and a lot of unemployed bar staff.

What of those who don’t smoke but who run, or work for, cigarette vending machine companies? They have work today, they’ll all be redundant tomorrow. Another loss of income for the pub, too. Do all the staff of all the vending machine companies smoke?

What of those who don’t smoke but run small shops? They might be very anti-smoking but they sell the cigarettes to keep their business profitable. What do they care if a smoker buys them? They cannot, by law, smoke on the premises. Their regular customers will soon learn to lean over the counter and ask, in hushed tones, for ‘feelthy fags’ (and hope they don’t get a special interest magazine by mistake). What of the passing trade? The occasional smoker who was passing, short on tobacco, glanced through the window and saw that the shop sells cigarettes. Now they won’t see the cigarettes so they’ll go on to where they know they’ll get them. The big supermarket. So the little shops lose trade and suffer. Even the ones who don’t smoke.

The pogrom on smokers has extended far beyond the smokers now. It reaches the suppliers, the delivery boys, the shops where such things can be bought. It affects ancillary trade – when a little shop goes under, a host of suppliers and delivery vans lose business.

I don’t know how many Labour voters are smokers so it’s impossible to make a definitive calculation, but I think it’s now safe to say that the proportion of people who will be directly affected by this government’s war on tobacco is now, or will soon be, greater than the proportion of people who are currently willing to vote Labour.

It’s already far higher than those who will vote Lib Dem. And possibly climbing towards the proportion that are considering a Tory vote.

If you are one of those affected, whether you smoke or not, whether you despise smokers or not, consider your position. If you vote for any of these parties, you vote for more control and more banning. Does your business involve any trade that’s linked to smoking, drinking or non-approved foods in any way? You might not be supplying those things yourself. You might supply beer pumps to pubs. You might deliver crisps to corner shops. You might supply, service or maintain vending machines or some component part.

Those corner shops who will suffer losses because they have to hide the tobacco (and they will, oh, they will) cannot fall back on alcohol sales because the supermarkets will always undercut them, and their sale of alcohol is coming under scrutiny anyway. That will be hidden soon too. They won’t be allowed to sell after hours, the only time you can sell at corner-shop prices and get customers to buy it. Two big profit margins gone.Sales of crisps and chocolate would have to rocket to compensate but they’re unhealthy too.

When the corner shop closes, it’s not just the smokers who lose out. It’s not just the smokers who have to go a bit further to the supermarket, it’s everyone. It’s not the smokers who are put out of work, it’s the shopkeeper and their staff, and their delivery chain and suppliers lose business too. The big supermarkets won’t pick up that business. They have their own distribution networks. Eventually, the losses pass up the line until the whole chain folds.

Just because you don’t smoke doesn’t mean this won’t affect you. Even if you absolutely despise smoking, don’t imagine yourself immune. Perhaps you would happily call for all smokers to be killed, while you pick up your newspaper from the corner shop on the way to work in a factory that produces coin-slot mechanisms for vending machines and call in at the pub on the way home. Oh, but the pub and the corner shop are gone now. It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to go to work after all. The company has laid off workers because of a mysterious downturn in business. They’ve even cut back on their advertising budget and are employing fewer accountants to cut losses.

Vote Labour. Vote Lib Dem. Vote Tory.

Vote for the blind destruction of both society and business in the UK, based on a crazed notion that banning smoking is the most important thing any government can do, and consequences don’t exist if you simply don’t look at them.

Vote for anyone but those three. Anyone at all.

Because smokers were just the beginning. They have not finished yet, not by a long way.

And no, I don’t smoke, I just do joined up thinking better than the government.