House of Lords backs ban on smoking in cars with children

A new law banning smoking inside cars carrying children has won the support of the House of Lords.

Peers backed the Labour-proposed motion in a vote by a margin of 222 to 197. The move would see the Children and Families Bill amended in such a way that the government would be able to – though not compelled – to bring in such a ban.

Research from the British Lung Foundation shows a single cigarette smoked in a moving car with a window half-open exposes a child in the centre of a backseat to around two-thirds as much second-hand smoke as an average pub, prior to the ban on public smoking in 2007.

The coalition government has been opposed to the new law up to this point, but will be willing to consider the counter-arguments.

Shadow health minister Lord Hunt said this was an issue of "child protection", adding: "Unlike most adults, children lack the freedom to decide when and how to travel [and] they lack the authority most adults have to ask people not to smoke in their company."

This comes at a time when the government is also considering introducing plain packaging for tobacco products to make smoking less attractive and visible.