Extending the smoking ban to beer gardens could be the final nail in the coffin for struggling pubs, MPs say.

Shipley MP Philip Davies and Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland fear Government proposals to extend the ban to areas outside pubs including the gardens would damage the industry further.

Mr Mulholland, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, said while smoking had serious health implications there was a need for a balance to be struck between protecting the rights of non-smokers and smokers.

He said: “Just when pubs have got to grips with the smoking ban and have found ways to cater for non-smokers and smokers alike, this nanny state New Labour Government wants to ban something else. This really is quite ludicrous as well as draconian and will cause more damage to pubs that are already hard hit in the current climate.

“It is high time Ministers woke up to the positive role that pubs play in communities and as a controlled, sociable drinking environment are actually an important part of the solution to problem drinking, rather than treating people as naughty children and trying to ban everything.”

Latest figures show 52 pubs have closed across the district since 2005, of which 17 shut since the smoking ban was introduced in the summer of 2007.

Mr Davies said: “This sort of anti-smoking crusade is over the top. People can argue for or against a smoking ban in enclosed spaces but to include outside as well is just ludicrous. It is kicking an industry when it is down. I fear it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

The MPs fear playing the “draconian” measures on people will force them to stay at home and endanger children through passive smoking and force many more pubs to close their doors.

Last week Health Secretary Andy Burnham set out plans to halve the number of smokers in the UK to just one in ten by 2020. Figures for April to September last year show 1,618 residents across Bradford quit smoking with the help of NHS services.