FORMER Health Secretary Alan Milburn is coming under increasing pressure to back a complete workplace smoking ban.

Despite setting up a national network of smoking cessation officers, which has helped thousands of smokers quit the habit, the Darlington MP is declining to say whether he will vote for a complete ban.

Yesterday, he met the director of an anti-smoking pressure group that represents all the region's primary care trusts and local councils.

But Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh - the campaign for a Smoke Free North East - said the MP was still refusing to support the ban. She urged constituents who favoured a complete workplace smoking ban to write to the former Health Secretary urging him to back it.

MPs recently won a concession from the Government after threats that some campaign groups would take legal action over alleged discrimination.

Anti-smoking groups are concerned that a ban that exempts private clubs would expose bar staff working on the premises to second-hand cigarette smoke, a known cause of cancer.

Ms Rutter is also calling on MPs in the North-East and North Yorkshire to back a complete ban after a survey by Fresh revealed that only nine out of the region's 32 MPs were in favour.

The rest are undecided, undeclared or favouring exemptions that would allow private clubs to permit smoking on their premises.

This is in spite of evidence suggesting that smoking disproportionately contributes towards making the North-East one of the unhealthiest areas in England.

The pressure on MPs to back a total ban increased when the medical journal The Lancet urged MPs to vote for a ban, describing the Government's original proposals as an ill-judged and nonsensical compromise.

The Lancet editorial said: "People working in these premises, who often do not have the luxury of choosing their workplace, are exposed to second-hand smoke and some will die from this exposure."

A spokeswoman for Mr Milburn said: "I don't think he has made his mind up yet. He has strong views about smoking, but he wants to make the right decision. He is still listening to what his constituents have to say about the debate."