Health experts have welcomed proposals for tougher regulations on outdoor smoking, but leading figures in the hospitality sector worry restrictions could hinder some businesses, particularly pubs.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government was looking at tougher outdoor smoking rules to help reduce the number of preventable deaths linked to tobacco use, and the burden on the NHS.

The details remain unclear, but if it goes ahead smoking could be banned in pub gardens, outdoor restaurants and outside hospital and sports grounds.

Hospitality sector leaders criticising plans have been joined by opposition politicians, who have described the proposals as over-regulation.

Any new ban would apply only to England. It is not yet clear if it would apply to the rest of the UK, though devolved governments could choose to bring in similar rules.

Dr Layla McCay from the NHS Confederation, which speaks on behalf of NHS organisations, said it would reduce “huge problems” caused to both individuals and society from smoking.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that smoking was the leading cause of preventable illness in the UK.

“We are heartened to see that progress is being made,” Dr McCay added.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health, said the public expected “not to have to breathe in tobacco smoke in places like children’s play areas and seating areas outside pubs, restaurants and cafés”.

However, Ms Arnott said it was important smokers still had access to some outdoor areas to “smoke in the open air, rather than inside their homes”.

Those in the hospitality sector worry the ban will further hurt businesses.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), which represents 20,000 pubs in the UK, said pub numbers had significantly decreased because of factors including the Covid pandemic and energy crisis.

“This needs to be thought through very carefully before we damage businesses and economic growth and jobs,” Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade group UK Hospitality, told the Today programme.

Chief executive of Revolution Bars, Rob Pitchers, said he was not convinced smoking in beer gardens was “prevalent enough to be putting any strain at all on the NHS”.

But JD Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin said: “I don’t think it will have a big effect on our business, one way or another.”

Smaller pub owners share a different tale.

Pub landlady Lisa Burrage, 55, in Newland, Gloucestershire, said pubs should be able to choose whether or not to go smoke-free and “it is not up to the government to make that decision”.

“This will be just another hurdle we have to face in hospitality and one we can do without,” Ms Burrage told the BBC.

Tony Harding, 57, a publican in Salisbury, said residents who live near his pub would probably not be happy if his punters began smoking and “blocking the pathway in the street, instead of [using] my nice comfortable garden”.

These concerns are echoed by opposition politicians.

Conservative leadership candidate Priti Patel said the proposals amounted to “nanny state regulation” that would be “economically damaging”.

Another Tory leadership candidate, Robert Jenrick, said: “The last thing this country needs is thousands more pubs closing.”

While Reform UK leader Nigel Farage described the proposals as “government overreach on a scale that is utterly ridiculous”.

“Frankly, if they do this, it will be the death knell of the pub,” Mr Farage added.

But the prime minister stressed the health impact while speaking to reporters on Thursday.

Questioned on the proposals, Sir Keir said the government was “going to take decisions in this space” and more details would be revealed.

Richard Lawrence, 31, is in favour of the plan and he does not understand why it is being perceived in a negative light.

Mr Lawrence said: “I would be more likely to go to a pub if the ban was in place, I’d certainly enjoy the experience of a lovely beer garden and enjoy my food and drink without the worry of the disgusting smell of smokers and blowing their smoke at me.”

Tobacco use is the UK’s single biggest preventable cause of death, killing two-thirds of long-term users and causing 80,000 deaths every year.

About 12.9% of people aged 18 and over in the UK – or about 6.4 million people – smoked cigarettes in 2022 according to the most recently available data from the Office for National Statistics.

That is the lowest proportion of current smokers since records began in 2011.

Selva Venugopalan, 45, has a three and a half-year-old boy and his wife, Geraldine, is pregnant with their second child.

He told the BBC the proposals were “a no-brainer”.

“I don’t want to smoke second-hand. I definitely don’t want my children to smoke second-hand at a tender age.”

In its guidance about passive or second-hand smoke, Cancer Research UK says all forms of exposure to smoking are “unsafe”, while the NHS says second-hand smoke is “a lethal cocktail of more than 4,000 irritants, toxins and cancer-causing substances”.