FOLLOWING the failure of the Public Health (Wales) Bill on Wednesday, senior representatives of the country’s healthcare sector have called on politicians “not to play games with the health of the nation”.

Chairman of the British Medical Association’s Welsh council Dr Phil Banfield said he was “bitterly disappointed” and felt “full of remorse for those whose health will suffer”.

“Sadly, with the fall of the Public Health (Wales) Bill, Wales has stepped back from the vanguard of public health policy,” he said.

“We reiterate that failure to prove harm is not evidence of safety and we are sad that the opportunity to shield our children from the possible re-normalisation of smoking behaviour has been squandered.”

The Welsh Government bill which would have seen e-cigarettes banned from a number of public places in Wales and introduced several other health measures was rejected by a Senedd vote.

The Public Health (Wales) Bill – which contained contentious plans to ban the use of e-cigarettes in a range of public places including schools, places where food is served and public transport – was blocked at the last minute on Wednesday.

The failure of the bill means a raft of other public health measures including a requirement for tattooists to be licensed and public toilets to be made available on footpaths and cycle paths will also not go ahead.

Director of the Royal College of Nursing Wales Tina Donnelly also called the news “disappointing and unsettling”.

She said: “This bill was a carefully constructed piece of potential legislation that could have created positive change for the health of the Welsh public and once again set a precedent for the rest of the UK.”

Speaking yesterday, Thursday, health minister Mark Drakeford said he was “deeply disappointed” the bill had been blocked on Wednesday – the final day of the Assembly before May’s election.

“There will be widespread anger that opposition parties, who had exerted a real influence on the bill, failed to support it into law and abandoned all the important protections for the public it would have put in place, preventing a range of public health harms,” he said.

“They chose not to do so and they must answer for their conduct.”

The bill was voted down at the final possible stage before it became law after Plaid Cymru announced they would oppose it in retaliation for public services minister Leighton Andrews joking the party was “a cheap date” earlier in the day.

In a blog post on Thursday Plaid AM for Ceredigion Elin Jones said “trust was breached” by the minister’s comments.

“It was not a flippant, feisty comment from the Labour backbenches,” she said. “It was said by a government minister during his Assembly questions session on the floor of the Senedd.

“It was obvious to all present, Labour included, that a line had been crossed.”

She added she believed the e-cigarette element of the bill should be separated into a separate bill so it could be voted on individually.

Labour Newport East AM John Griffiths said he was “very disappointed” the bill had not passed, calling the decision “completely wrong-headed”.

His Labour colleague for Torfaen Lynne Neagle said she was “deeply disappointed” by the result.

“I don’t feel the comments from the earlier debate were a reflection on the relationship we’ve built with opposition parties over the past five years,” she said.

“All parties have made remarks in the heat of the moment during chamber exchanges.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams – who was a vocal opponent of the e-cigarette ban – called the decision by Plaid “bizarre and somewhat farcical”, but said she welcomed the bill being blocked.

“This law would have sent the wrong signal that e-cigarettes are as bad for your health as normal cigarettes,” she said. “That simply isn’t the case.”

Conservative shadow health minister Darren Millar said the e-cigarette ban would have been “a huge step backwards”.