UK: Ban on tobacco sales to people born after 2009 approved by House of Commons
April 18, 2024
Par: National Committee Against Smoking
Dernière mise à jour: April 18, 2024
Temps de lecture: 3 minutes
The UK House of Commons approved a bill on April 16 that would ban the sale of tobacco products to people born in 2009 or later, a measure pushed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who hopes to create a tobacco-free generation in the country, despite opposition from conservatives.[1].
In the first vote, 383 MPs approved the text, 67 voted against. Among the latter were nearly sixty Conservative MPs. The House of Lords is expected to vote on the bill in June, with a view to final adoption.
The Office for National Statistics estimated that around 6.4 million adults were smokers in the UK in 2022, or 12.91% of the population aged 18 and over. Among adolescents aged 16-17, 12.1% were smokers. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable premature death in the UK, causing 80,000 deaths each year.
Freedom has no place in addiction, says health minister
If passed next June, Britain's smoking law would be among the toughest in the world. The British approach follows a similar initiative first introduced in New Zealand but which was abandoned after a conservative government with links to the tobacco lobby came to power.
The proposed UK law, if passed, means it will be illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
However, several Conservative MPs, including former Prime Minister Liz Truss, voted against the bill, saying it would restrict individual freedoms. She also called the law the work of a "nanny state". Last week, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the tobacco ban "absolutely crazy" in a speech at a Conservative conference in Ottawa, Canada.
There is no " no freedom in dependence " warned Victoria Atkins, the Minister of Health, in response to the Conservatives, adding that " Nicotine robs people of their freedom of choice. The vast majority of smokers start smoking when they are young, and three-quarters of them say that if they could go back in time, they would not have started. ".
The Bill also includes provisions to regulate the marketing and packaging of vaping and other nicotine products to make them less appealing to children. Trading Standards Officers will have the power to record and issue on-site fines to any shopkeeper caught selling tobacco or vaping products to children. Fixed penalty notices are set at £100 and any fines collected will be used to further enforce the legislation.
Photo credit: Benjamin Cremel/PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES/MAXPPP Keywords: UK, Rishi Sunak, Conservatives, Tobacco Free Generation, 2009, minorsAE
[1] Sarah Young and Alistair Smout, UK smoking ban for younger generations passes first parliamentary hurdle, Reuters, published April 16, 2024, accessed April 17, 2024
National Committee Against Smoking |