The Welsh deputy health minister has said it is inevitable that a workplace smoking ban will spread from Ireland across the UK.

John Griffiths was speaking to ePolitix.com after Scotland’s first minister indicated he had been persuaded that a ban could work in Scotland during a trip to Dublin.

Jack McConnell said he was "certainly more convinced now that at the very least something approaching an all-out ban is enforceable, practical and desirable in Scotland".

And Irish health minister Micheal Martin advised McConnell not to worry about the backlash such a controversial move could provoke.

"The ordinary punter on the street wanted this to happen and it is they who made it happen," he said.

Welsh ban

The Welsh assembly has already voted to introduce a ban on smoking in workplaces and is waiting for Westminster to legislate on its behalf.

Now the Welsh deputy health minister says a smoking ban everywhere from pubs and restaurants to offices would soon be a reality across the UK.

The Newport East AM said: "I am not at all surprised that Scotland’s first minister has been persuaded of the case for a ban.

"I was in Ireland recently and when you speak to the people you find that it has been very effective, created a better environment and has helped people give up.

"I think it is inevitable that if a ban is introduced in Scotland more pressure will be put on Westminster to give Wales the power to introduce a ban and then introduce it in England.

"It is what the majority of people want and it is only a matter of time.

"It is one of the effects of devolution that we can see what other administrations do and when it works we can adopt it."

A spokesman for the Department of Health in London said it would be inappropriate to comment before the publication of a public health consultation document due out later in the autumn.