Tighter regulations being discussed by ministers may see smoking prohibited in UK pub gardens, outside eateries, outside hospitals, and at sports grounds. These details were obtained through a leak of government documents.

According to the Sun, the new regulations are a more stringent version of the tobacco and e-cigarette ban from the previous government, which forbade the sale of tobacco to anybody born on or after January 2009,.

The publication reported that despite some resistance within the administration, secret Whitehall documents indicated plans to expand the indoor smoking ban.

The proposal further stated that lighting up would be prohibited outside of universities, kid-friendly play areas, small parks, and outside areas of clubs and restaurants, as well as on the pavements adjacent to these establishments.

Ministers could also target vapers as well as shisha bars, it said. The restrictions will not cover private homes or large open spaces, such as parks, or streets.

The tobacco and vapes bill was introduced in parliament earlier this year but fell when the general election was called. Last month’s king’s speech promised to reintroduce legislation to increase progressively the age at which people can buy cigarettes, though made no mention of an outdoor ban.

Dr Layla McCay, the director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said she was “heartened” to see progress was being made on abolishing smoking.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m obviously in favour of measures that help abolish smoking. We have seen from the previous government – and from this current government and indeed from wider society – this strong commitment to move towards abolishing smoking.

“It is absolutely the health challenge of our time. It’s the leading cause of preventable illness in the UK, so we are heartened to see that progress is being made and that the intention is moving forward to really address one of Britain’s main drivers of health inequalities.”

She added: “Ultimately, all of these steps are steps in the same journey, which is towards a smoke-free future for Britain, reducing those health inequalities, reducing the huge problems that are caused to the individual and to society from smoking.

So, it’s not surprising but in this journey there will be different types of decisions, and there will be hard decisions that need to be made.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We do not comment on leaks. Smoking claims 80,000 lives a year, puts huge pressure on our NHS, and costs taxpayers billions.

“We are determined to protect children and non-smokers from the harms of second-hand smoking. We’re considering a range of measures to finally make Britain smoke-free,” the BBC reported.

In 2007, under the Labour government, smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces was made illegal across the UK.

According to the charity Action on Smoking (Ash), in the year after the introduction of smoke-free laws there was a 2.4% reduction in hospital admissions for heart attacks in England, resulting in 12,000 fewer admissions to hospitals, which saved the NHS £8.4m in a year.

In the first year after the introduction of the indoor smoking ban there was a 12.3% reduction in hospital admissions for childhood asthma, equivalent of 6,803 fewer admissions over three years.

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of the trade group UKHospitality, said any plans to ban smoking in some outdoor areas could affect economic growth.

She told the Today programme: “This is not without economic harm, and it’s not without economic cost to businesses that are providing outside areas for smokers and non-smokers, and also vapers, because I note in some of the reports there’s suggestions that vaping in outside areas could also be restricted.

“So this needs to be thought through very carefully before we damage businesses and economic growth and jobs.”

The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, told the Sun: “It’ll be the end of pubs.”

The Conservative party leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick told the newspaper: “The last thing this country needs is thousands more pubs closing. Our country faces huge challenges. Why is Starmer focusing on this nonsense?”

The move has reportedly sparked Cabinet tensions, with memos showing the Department for Business and Trade fearing the financial cost to hospitality. Many landlords have been forced to close since the Covid crisis because of rising costs and taxes.

But Keir Starmer is said to have resolved to press ahead with the outdoor ban, with the backing of England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty.

Stewart Wood, a former adviser to the former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, told BBC’s Newsnight: “There’s a difference between smoking outside and walking in a forest and smoking outside where there are large groups of people, particularly children, concentrated, like restaurants, like pub gardens, like football matches.”