JERSEY could follow Guernsey in introducing a public smoking ban by the end of the year.

Guernsey’s States voted to approve a ban in public places and workplaces yesterday, following high-profile bans in Ireland, the USA and New Zealand.

Jersey’s States agreed in 2003 to ban smoking in public places where food is served, but Senator Paul Le Claire says that when that ban comes back to the States to be ratified, he is likely to try to expand it to take in all public places.

The Senator says that he wants to see smoking banned in public places like pubs and nightclubs, and to follow Guernsey’s example of a ban in the workplace.

He said that when he sat on the Health and Social Services Committee in 2000, the committee was told that smoking was Jersey’s biggest killer, accounting for 200 deaths per year.

He added that subject to advice from the Law Officers, he could pursue the idea of banning parents from smoking in cars carrying their children – but that he felt that may be a step too far.