Smoking ban to cost Treasury £1.8bn - papers 23rd Nov

Mike Warburton, senior tax partner at accountant Grant Thornton, says the money saved on healthcare would be “tiny” compared with the loss to the Treasury, and based on a predicted 15% decline in the number of smokers. The Government has proposed to ban smoking in restaurants and any pubs or bars which serve food, partly in an effort to save money for the NHS, and then ban smoking in public places by 2008. ERNST & YOUNG said yesterday it is now "extremely likely" the £2bn negligence claim brought against the auditor by Equitable Life will go to trial, continues the Telegraph. Specu...