Smoking in cars

I am told I will have a free vote soon on whether people should be banned from smoking in cars where children are also travelling.

I have so far agreed with the government’s view that we should aim to eliminate smoking in a confined space with a child present by persuasion and health education. I am now consulting on whether the government should go further and ban smoking in these circumstances.

I am always reluctant to legislate to reduce people’s freedom. The issue here is more complex as we have to weigh  the freedom of the child to travel smoke free against the freedom of the adult to smoke. The child often may have no choice in the matter.

I would appreciate constituents’ views on this to help in coming to my decision. It would be helpful to have your address to confirm you are a constituent. This can be sent to the website by reply, or to my Parliamentary email if you wish the address to be kept private.