M
Member
Speaking in the House of Lords on 17 November 2025
Debate
Tobacco and Vapes BillContribution
It is difficult to picture how a producer is expected to prove beyond reasonable doubt that smoking was justified to preserve the artistic integrity of a performance. How is a director to demonstrate to the satisfaction of a court that a character in, say, a Noël Coward play must smoke for dramatic authenticity? Under the Bill as drafted, prudent producers may feel compelled to seek legal advice before staging any work in which smoking may historically have been integral and taken for granted.
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