MPs will vote today (16 April 2024) on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The Bill would make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after 1 January 2009. This includes children aged 15 or younger today.
The law would not criminalise smoking. Anyone who can legally buy tobacco today will always be able to do so.
If MPs back the Bill, it will move to the next stage. Supporters hope this will bring the UK closer to the first smoke-free generation.
Our response
Paula Chadwick, chief executive of Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, shares the charity’s view on the Bill.
“We fully support any measures that reduce the risk of lung cancer. We stand firmly behind the Government’s proposed Tobacco and Vapes Bill. But we still have questions and concerns.
“Smoking remains the biggest cause of lung cancer. To lower diagnoses, we must help people quit and prevent others from starting. Around 80% of people begin smoking before age 20. Most stay addicted for life, despite trying to quit.”
“The Tobacco and Vapes Bill would ensure anyone turning 15 from this year would be banned from buying cigarettes. It also aims to make vapes less appealing to children by restricting flavours, introduce plain packaging and change how vapes are displayed in shops.
“On paper, this is a positive step towards a smoke-free generation. However, we can’t help but ask… it is really that simple?!
The sceptic in me can’t help but wonder if this Bill could in fact create greater demand for these damaging products. It’s reverse-psychology 101; tell someone they can’t have something, and it just makes them want it more – even if they didn’t want it in the first place! Could this drive young people towards illicit and unregulated tobacco?
Moving forward
“We also remain unsure how the Government intends for this to be policed. We understand, under the plans, trading standards officers would get new powers to issue on-the-spot £100 fines to shops selling tobacco or vapes to children, with all the money raised going towards further enforcement.
“Again, simple on paper, but does this translate into reality given the numbers involved?
For us, the key to a smokefree generation is education, and in particular education about vaping. The figures around young people and vapes is staggering, and frightening. Number having tripled in the last three years, with one in five children having tried vaping – despite it already being illegal for under 18s, proof that age limits are far from foolproof.
“Restrictions alone are not enough. If we want to protect the next generation from smoking and vaping, we must provide young people with the right information – and in the right way – to allow them to make a conscious and informed choice.
“Young people have to make the decision that they don’t to want to smoke or vape, and they need to do it of their own free will. That is then we will finally start to win the war against tobacco.”