6 OUT OF TEN BACK FAG BAN; EXCLUSIVE SUNDAY MAIL SURVEY Scots want no smoking in public.

Byline: By LINDSAY McGARVIE

SIX out of 10 Scots want smoking banned in all public places, according to an exclusive Sunday Mail poll.

The result is a major boost to ministers who want legislation to protect Scots from passive smoking inpubs and restaurants. Last week we revealed the Executive want to ban smoking from places that serve food.

They are all set to launch a public consultation to find the level of support for a ban in restaurants, pubs and clubs. We started that process with a nationwide survey in public places. We asked: ``Should smoking be banned in all public places, including pubs and restaurants?''

And 59 per cent said they were in favour of making those places smoke-free, with 41 per cent against.

Our poll results showed regional differences.

Aberdeen and the Northeast showed the greatest enthusiasm for a ban, with 86 per cent in favour.

In Inverness and the North, two-thirds wanted smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places banned.

Opinion was split 50-50 in Glasgow and the West. But in Edinburgh and the East, a majority of 58 per cent were against imposing such a ban.

Deputy health minister Tom McCabe welcomed the results as a good starting point for the Executive's Tobacco Action Plan.

He said: ``The Scottish Executive are keen to start a national debate on smoking in our long-term bid to make Scotland smoke-free. This Sunday Mail poll is a fantastic start.''

Around 13,000 deaths every year are related to tobacco.

Maureen Moore, chief executive of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) Scotland, said: ``I am very pleased to hear the result of this poll, which comes before we have even started our public information campaign on passive smoking.

``There is a low level of understanding about how major the health risks are. As people get more educated about the dangers of passive smoking, the majority who want a ban will rise.''

Last night, it emerged the Hog's Head pub chain want to convert one of their 10 Scots pubs to smoke-free.

Professor James Friend, a consultant chest physician in Aberdeen, who is a board member of NHS Health Scotland, said: ``As Scotland has a pretty awful record of illhealth caused by smoking, I believe we should be looking at legislation and I'd be pleased if we were one of the first countries to have such a ban.''

Alastair Don, president ofScottish Licensed Trade Association, said: ``I don't think a ban will work and, anyway, why should we have to police it whentobacco is not an illegal substance?''

Britain's fourth-largest pub company will decide this week if Scotland is to get its first smoke-free tavern.

The Laurel Pub Company, which owns the Hog's Headchain, has four smoke-free pubs in England. A spokeswoman said: ``We have had increased business in our smoke-free pubs.''

The UK Government want the majority of pubs to be smoke-free.

Our survey questioned 200 people on Hogmanay.

WHAT THE NATION THINKS

WE spoke to lung tumour specialists, celebrity restaurant owners, cancer victims, pub bosses and relatives of those who died of smoking-related illnesses during our exclusive poll of 200 people from all parts of Scotland on Hogmanay. Here we reveal the thoughts of five people who have widely differing views on whether smoking should be outlawed in pubs and restaurants.

LUNG tumour specialist Marianne Nicolson, of the Grampian University Hospital NHS Trust, said: ``People often associate a cigarette with relaxing and having a good time and believe it will cause them less harm than smoking all day.

``Some publicans may fear that people will be less inclined to go to the pub for a drink if they can't have a fag as well. But we have got to rise above that and look at the cost smoking is having on people's health and the cost to the health service.'' CELEBRITY chef Antony Worrall Thompson, 53, is patron of FOREST, the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco, and runs his restaurant in London's Notting Hill.

``We'd lose quite a lot of customers if we banned it.

``We've found that the average smoker spends 14 per cent more because they stay longer and drink more. They seem more relaxed. One has to be allowed a certain amount of debauchery in life.''

FATHER-of-three Doug McIntosh, 42, of Aberdeen, who lost his right forearm to cancer, said: ``I think a ban on smoking in public places would be welcomed by non-smokers.

``There is nothing worse coming home from the pub and your clothes stinking of cigarettes.

``People have the right to lead their lives as they choose but if you smoke there is the chance that you will lose your limbs because of it.''

WIDOW Margaret McTear, 58, of Beith, Ayrshire, is suing Imperial Tobacco for pounds 500,000, following the death of husband Alf, 48, in 1993 due to lung cancer.

She said: ``If people could only have seen the agony my husband Alf was in during his last days as he died of lung cancer because of smoking, they'd give it up.

``I get really upset when I see so many young people putting their lives in danger with cigarettes. There's so much peer pressure about.''

CAPTION(S):

Smoke signal:; Mail tells last week of the Scottish Executive plan to stamp out smoking