General principles debated, nothing new to learn

In case you’ve been asleep for most of this past week, Wales held the first reading of the ludicrously titled “Public Health (Wales) Bill” in the Senedd. Many were expecting a fairly inglorious climb down from the nutty Minister for Health and Social Services. At least, that’s how it has been reported by Auntie Beeb:

For those of you not overly familiar with the full contents of the “Public Health (Wales) Bill”, it details a variety of measures related to community public toilets, intimate piercings, tattoos, special procedures and of course e-cigarettes. Now why do you suppose e-cigarettes have been slipped into such an innocuous looking Bill? After all, the provision of public toilets, regulating intimate piercings, tattoos and special procedures is of “vital importance” to the health of the general public aren’t they?

Well, as with any political manoeuvering, if you include enough small stuff that other politicians can actually agree on then the proposal as a whole will pass. Pretty sneaky huh? Trouble is, once we got wind of the inclusion of e-cigarettes into the Bill, all hell kicked off. If it wasn’t for the inclusion of e-cigarettes, this Bill would no doubt have been passed unnoticed by the general public. As it is, it’s grabbed headlines at every step of the way. Most of them showing little or no support for the inclusion of e-cigarettes in the Bill, with some opponents openly stating that the section on e-cigarettes should be removed from the Bill and handled as its own entity. Of course, the ever benevolent Health Minister has absolutely no intention of doing that, simply because that step would fail. As has been covered numerous times, by a variety of people there simply isn’t enough evidence to support what the Minister wants.

So when handed the floor of the Senedd, what did our benevolent Minister do?

Interesting way to start off his prepared speech.

“For our children”. Immediate and blatant attempt to tug on the heart-strings of the other AMs present. The typical format of a politician seeking support of those that may be wavering. It’s more than a little distasteful that The Children™ are being used in the game of politics where the end result is the imposition of draconian measures that will only serve to have an overall negative impact on the health of the public that they are sworn to represent.

(emphasis mine)

The Bill, as originally drafted would prohibit the use of e-cigarettes wherever tobacco is prohibited. Which is to say, everywhere including the home (if it is “deemed to be used as a place of work”) and, if the Minister gets his way, in outdoor spaces like Parks, and beer gardens. This is the “simplest, clearest and most proportionate” means of preventing potential harms, apparently. However, in face of strong opposition Mr Benevolent has made, what some news outlets are calling a “climb down”.

So, after reading the Health & Social Care Committee’s report he’s decided that instead of a blanket ban everywhere, he’s going to “introduce amendments” to the Bill that would limit the places where an e-cigarette cannot be used to ‘educational establishments containing students under 18, places where food is served (restaurants, bars and most likely your local social club if they happen to sell crisps) and public transport. Now if you were paying attention on Twitter you would have picked up on this little gem:

The key is the phrasing here. “This includes, but is not limited to…” which is effectively anywhere they feel appropriate, or where The Children™ may be found. So instead of a blanket ban, he is proposing amendments that are going to be.. a blanket ban. Standing ovation for mis-direction there.

Before I go into the responses from the other AMs, I just want to drop this in:

Some more double-speak phrasing here, “I look forward to Members’ contributions” which of course means he’ll _act _like he is listening but in reality he’s probably off in cloud cuckoo land listening to that 13-year-old lad from Fife telling him what to do.

Turning now to some of the opposing speeches, kicking off with Darren Millar of the Welsh Conservatives:

A grand start there. Pointing out that the evidence received does not support the approach taken by the Minister and in fact would actually be in direct opposition to the stated “opinions” of the Minister himself.

I do still find it strange that when it comes to tobacco, the Health Minister is all too content to listen to those organisations listed, but when it comes to e-cigarettes those same organisations “must be wrong”. At the end of that, Mr Millar calls for the e-cigarette proposals to be scrapped from the Bill. Just for the record, Darren Millar AM voted against the Bill, for a full list of which AMs voted in which direction, the summary is available here.

For this next little section, I’m going to bundle the Welsh Labour AMs into one inglorious piece, starting with Lynne Neagle:

Lynne Neagle is in full support of the “middle road” as she calls it that _doesn’t treat e-cigarettes in exactly the same way as cigarettes, but recognises that there may be a risk of normalising smoking-type behaviour, especially for young people. So, that is the option that I favour and I very much welcome what the Minister has said today in that he will be looking to bring forward amendments setting out the kinds of places where the use of e-cigarettes will be restricted. – _For the record, and as a Labour AM she voted for the Bill.

John Griffiths

There is going to be little or no chance at swaying this chap. He thinks that the current anti-smoking anti-smoker isn’t going far enough, and is more than happy to impose draconian measures to the group that choose a different way of living by extending existing banned places to outside. He’s all for the demonisation and stigmatisation of smokers, and of course by extension vapers too. He of course voted For the Bill.

As I’m sure you can imagine, the Welsh Labour AMs are so deep into Drakefords bullshit that they are immediately supporting him, though I do wonder if some of them are starting to wonder just how crazy he is given some of the “evidence” that the Minister has been citing.

Now I’m going to have a look at Plaid Cymru, the “Party of Wales”. Interestingly, Plaid Cymru AMs were given the option to vote as they wished regardless of the official party line, which is open support of e-cigarettes and opposition to the proposed ban.

Elin Jones spoke on this first, it is wise to note that early on in this debate Jones was a fierce supporter of e-cigarettes, however this has wavered over the last few months for reasons unknown. However, her speech was reasonably balanced, and called for the section on e-cigarettes to be removed in totality to be considered as a separate entity something that is made clear in her opening remarks:

Elin Jones then goes on to mention that Drakeford is unwilling for the Bill as proposed to be split to enable the matter on e-cigarettes to be debated away from other public health issues. That in itself is rather telling.

It is a little concerning that as an individual, Elin Jones is leaning towards the “compromise” put forward by Drakeford which does make me wonder what it is that has changed her mind to be less open in her support for e-cigarettes.

For me, there is a little of Drakeford in this part of her speech. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for her statement in opposing the Bill outright based on the e-cigarette section alone but this section of her speech has me a little worried. This would suggest that something (or someone) has said or done something to alter her views, it would be interesting to find out what that was.

Lindsay Whittle

The opening comments from Lindsay Whittle, another Plaid Cymru AM were, stark, to the point and brutal.

In other words, there’s a lengthy list of public health issues that deserve far more attention yet e-cigarettes and vaping (I like how he refers to it as vaping, it demonstrates to me a great deal of support). He squarely calls the Minister out on his “targeting of e-cigarettes” as “ill-informed” and goes as far as saying that the Minister misunderstands the point of them. Right there. That on its own deserves a standing ovation. Lindsay Whittle has just openly called the Health Minister, misguided and ill-informed. What better way to start a 5 minute speech?

His speech in full:

I don’t think much more needs to be said there other than, bravo Lindsay Whittle. There is a gentleman that actually gets it, he really and truly gets it.

Moving on to Jocelyn Davies, another member of Plaid Cymru:

It seems that Plaid Cymru are going to be a big thorn in the ass of Welsh Labour over this particular aspect of the Bill. First Elin Jones, then Lindsay Whittle and now Jocelyn Davies. Labour are looking beleaguered, yet thoroughly determined to ensure that the prohibition of e-cigarettes is included in the Bill.

This is the point right here. “Unless we can imagine ourselves in the shoes of the smoker or the vaper and understand their perspective any policy designed to influence their behaviour will fail“. This is a key point to the debate, wherever in the world it may be. Many policy makers do not understand us yet they try to impose regulations on us to “influence our behaviour” in a way that suits them, yet without key understanding of us, any policy will fail. This is also a fundamental failing of the EU and the accursed Tobacco Products Directive.

He goes on:

Health benefits are clear, compounding e-cigarettes with tobacco is a bad idea and sends the wrong message. More needs to be done for long term safety (which we already know), vapers aren’t glamorous (OK, I’ll give him that one, I’m definitely NOT glamorous, though a few of my fellow advocates could definitely qualify).

Plaid Cymru:

• Elin Jones – Abstain
• Lindsay Whittle – Against
• Jocelyn Davies – Against

Finally, I move to Kirsty Williams leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. I’ve not placed any emphasis on the ordering here except how they appeared in the Senedd speeches. Kirsty would have been far earlier, but bundling Labour and Plaid Cymru speakers together seemed the most logical course.

I am, for brevity’s sake going to skip the opening remarks of her speech and kick off coverage with:

Reading between the lines here, Kirsty is saying that while the Bill is a step in the general right direction, there are other matters of public health that have not been addressed at all, though she does hope that the Minister is being honest in his statement that he is “open to ideas”.

Kirsty Williams is quite clear here in that the precautionary principle is all well and good, but to abide by that principle there are positive and negative effects to take into account. A clear example of the “negative” effects of the precautionary principle (as applied by the EU) is the TPD. The comment of “it is my belief that, before legislating, we need to take the precaution not to lose the undoubted benefits”, is a clear indication to me that the proposals in the Bill, much like the TPD, will do far more harm than good.

Her full speech follows:

So we’ve heard from the Welsh Conservatives (13 AMs, 2 did not vote, 11 against) in opposal to the Bill, Plaid Cymru who are having a free vote (out of the 11 Plaid AMs listed, 3 did not vote, 1 abstained, 1 supported while 6 opposed), and the Welsh Liberal Democrats (5 AMs all opposed the Bill). You would think that given the weight of the evidence, and the impassioned speeches as outlined here and in the full transcript that there would be greater opposition to the proposed e-cigarette restrictions.

Of course, Drakeford had a final say:

So, in summary Drakeford not only states that Members’ are entitled to come to a different view, but that (and I quote) “that there is absolutely no evidence to quote, that all the evidence, that there is no evidence at all on the side of the argument that the Government has brought forward—I think they are simply misunderstanding the position. There is ample evidence—you may not agree with it. Of course you may not agree with it, but to say that there is no evidence at all when this is evidence in the top peer review journals that you will see”.

In other words, the evidence presented in opposition is in direct conflict with the evidence he believes to be true. Considering that he referenced the “result of Scottish research”, which was actually an appallingly bad story about the study in a Scottish newspaper. The actual researcher has gone public to denounce this story in the strongest terms. Her study didn’t prove that, she says; it didn’t even research that. In fact it didn’t talk about e-cigarettes at all. The media reporting was based entirely on a quote from one of the children. That’s it. That was his basis for some “recent” gateway ‘research’. Stunning isn’t it?

The evidence isn’t closely balanced at all Mr Drakeford. All we’ve heard in opposition to the proposal is “opinion” from a Trade Union and unelected officials that tend to hold swanky parties on the taxpayer while simultaneously preventing them from bearing witness. I cannot see the balance in that. His closing remarks are a prime example of hubris to the highest degree:

Based on the evidence from the WHO, BMA, PH Wales (to name the three primary candidates), the precautionary principle to impose draconian legislation that has absolutely no basis in solid, repeatable evidence is to prevail.

There’s only one word for that.