On Tuesday, the Welsh Assembly debated smoking outdoors along the lines we commented on earlier this week. They stared into the abyss of the depredation of freedom while the abyss stared back. Fortunately for those who love freedom, the Welsh Assembly blinked first and stepped back from the edge.
They have elected to delay legislation for three years, and will instead run another campaign to persuade drivers not to smoke in their own vehicles (which the driver has paid for). They want to extend that to parks, which everyone pays for out of their council tax; not that smokers will get a rebate of course: they will have to pay for facilities that they are not welcome to use!
However, the Welsh Assembly Minister for Health and Social Services, Lesley Griffiths, said that the Assembly will ‘consider bringing forward legislation’ if evidence shows the campaign fails to achieve a significant reduction in exposure to second-hand smoke. It appears that they do not even intend allowing the whole three years!
David Bowden, of the civil liberties think tank the Institute of Ideas said:
We either give individuals the choice to make their own moral responsibility to have bad habits which the government may not approve of, or we don’t at all.
Which means that if the Welsh Assembly enacts legislation on smoking, then they are free to legislate against alcohol, fast food, and even ice cream just because they do not like them!
I ask you: what loving parent would stand by and allow their children’s freedoms to be stolen before they are of an age to decide for themselves?