As Pete Robinson points out, their complete misreading of the likely impact of the smoking ban must be one of the key reasons for the current financial plight of the pub companies. And there was no shortage of people who could have told them that at the time.
There is also a perceptive point made in the comments that the smoking ban must be one of the main factors behind the swing from Labour to BNP at the recent elections. Now, I hold no brief for the BNP, but the ban made it crystal clear that Labour no longer stood up for or even understood the traditional working classes, and indeed has a deeply patronising attitude towards them.
Spot on about the swing to the BNP, Curmudgeon. It wasn't huge numbers voting for them that gained them two MEPs, it was Labour voters not turning out.
ReplyDeleteLabour have come out with excuse after excuse since the election, as I wrote here, but as you correctly say, the real reason is that Labour have completely forgotten the people who generally vote for them.
Labour opened the door to the BNP by marginalising the working class voter with authoritarian 'healthist' policies.