MPs to vote on smoking ban bill and ‘harmful’ vape sales aimed at children
MPs are to vote on a landmark smoking bill which would raise the legal tobacco purchasing age and clamp down on “harmful” childhood vaping.
Parliament will have its first debate on the measures in the proposed new law, followed by a vote in the House of Commons later today, in what’s known as the ‘second reading’.
The bill would create a so-called smoke-free generation as the legal threshold for buying cigarettes would be set at 1 January, 2009, meaning the age would gradually rise over time.
Other measures include banning vape adverts and their sale in vending machines, and restricting flavours – such as gummy bears and cotton candy – aimed to appeal to children.
While all vaping and nicotine products will be banned from being sold to the under-18s, following a wider total ban on disposable vapes set to come into force from June 2025.
Health secretary Wes Streeting stressed that childhood vaping was “growing at an alarming rate”, and warned “without urgent intervention, we’re going to have a generation of children with long-term addiction”.
Stop smoking funding
He added: “It is unacceptable that these harmful products are being deliberately targeted at children with brightly coloured packaging and flavours like ‘gummy bear’ and ‘rainbow burst’.
“The bill provides the protection that children and young people need to avoid a life imprisoned by addiction. That’s why it’s so incredibly important it is voted through.”
Ministers will consult on plans to stop the sale of certain flavours, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials said, while packaging intended to attract younger consumers could also be restricted, alongside a total ban on ads on buses, cinemas and shop windows.
The plans are intended to help achieve one of the three key aims in the government’s ten year health plan, namely a move from sickness to prevention, and will be bolstered by some £10m funding for Trading Standards enforcement and £70m on NHS stop smoking services.
Data from National Trading Standards (NTS) shows over one million illicit vapes were seized inland by Trading Standards in 2023-24, a 59 per cent increase on the previous year – while a separate scheme saw 19m illicit cigarettes and 5.2 tonnes of illicit tobacco seized that year.
This was in addition to the one billion illicit cigarettes and 92.4 tonnes of illicit tobacco seized by HMRC and Border Force.
Free market objections
The bill will also include powers to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco, vape and nicotine products, with on the spot £200 fines for selling to underage consumers, and allows ministers to extend the indoor smoking ban to certain outdoor places.
Playgrounds, outside schools and hospitals are all being considered for a smoking ban in England, subject to consultation, while the indoor ban could be extended to include vapes.
NHS medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said youth vaping was a “significant and growing concern” while smoking “remains the leading cause of preventable deaths”, costing the health service “billions every year”.
He added: “We wholeheartedly welcome the government’s commitment to tackle this.”
While Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), previously argued against the plans as “objectionable”.
He warned the measures on tobacco and vapes “will push both products into the hands of the black market” and called it “lunacy to attack the safer substitutes of vaping and heated tobacco while dragging tobacco into the war on drugs”.
“Even anti-smoking fanatics should be able to see that this is counter-productive.”