Tobacco display ban "need not harm small businesses"

A ban on tobacco displays in shops need not damage small retailers, the new health secretary has said.

Speaking at the debate on the second reading of the Health Bill, Andy Burnham said that the ban could be carried out without damaging small business so long as the "right point of balance" was found between health and business concerns.

The health secretary said that the point-of-sale tobacco display ban would come into effect in 2011 for larger retailers and 2013 for small businesses.

This would "allow smaller retailers time to adjust, refit their shops when their old displays are due to be replaced anyway and limit as far as possible additional costs", he said.

The Association of Convenience Stores and the British Retail Consortiumjointly oppose the ban, describing it as a "considerable burden" that could cost some retailers over £10,000. They are now calling for a free vote on the issue.

Many MPs at the reading were also critical of the proposal. Conservative Mark Pritchard said that an "unintended consequence" of the Bill could be that convenience stores and small shops have to close. "Most small shop owners are responsible and undertake their duties in a lawful way, and...in order to survive they need to sell products," he added.

Labour MP David Clelland argued that there was no evidence of a drop in youth smoking or consumption rates in countries that had already introduced a tobacco display ban. And Liberal Democrat Sandra Gidley proposed the introduction of plain packaging as a "compromise".

But the Conservatives' Sir George Young backed the proposal, saying that the measures were consistent with the bans on smoking in public places and tobacco advertising. "They are trying to change the climate in which smoking was seen as a socially acceptable behaviour," he said.