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According to a study, more than 400,000 people in England have given up Smoke free legislation could prevent people dying over the next decade as a result of the public ban. The smoke free legislation could prevent 40,000 people dying over the next decade, a new survey has also claimed.

A separate report, the Smoking Toolkit Study has examined the effect of anti-smoking legislation.

In the nine months before the ban was introduced on July 1, 2007, there was a 1.6% fall in smoking across England. But in the nine months after the ban, this fall was much higher at 5.5%.

A survey of more than 3,000 people by the health charity Action on Smoking and Health, found 63% strongly support the ban on smoking in public places.

More than eight in ten adults also wanted retailers convicted of selling tobacco illegally to children to be banned from selling them in the future. A total of 59 percent of people supported banning tobacco being on display in shops while 65 percent wanted sale from vending machines to be banned.

Deborah Arnott, the mother of two teenage boys and director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: "The smoke free legislation has been a fantastic success and is hugely popular."

ASH is a public health charity that has a strong reputation as one of the most effective campaigning charities in the UK and is at the forefront of the fight to protect people from the harmful effects of tobacco.

Deborah Arnott said that the smoke free law is not an end in itself but has proven to be a catalyst for further controls on tobacco.

Scientists reported that there is still a lot more that needs to be done. In particular the Government should focus on measures to shield children from tobacco industry marketing while parents and caregivers can do much more to protect children from exposure to second-hand smoke in the home and car.