British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Victoria Atkins departs a cabinet meeting at Downing Street on Tuesday to head to Parliament to make a successful case for a landmark piece of legislation banning tobacco sales to future generations of Britons. Photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE
April 17 (UPI) -- British lawmakers voted to ban sales of cigarettes and vapes to anyone born after Dec. 31, 2008 ushering in an anti-smoking statute that will be among the toughest in the world, if the legislation becomes law.
Members of Parliament passed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's flagship Tobacco and Vapes Bill 383-67 in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening meaning young people turning 15 this year will not be able to able to purchase any tobacco product or disposable vape once they reach the age of 18, with the aim of producing a new smoke-free generation and eventually a smoke-free society.
However, Sunak's ruling Conservative Party was split over the issue with 59 of his MPs voting against and another 180 abstaining, mainly on freedom of choice concerns and the mounting threat posed by "a creeping nanny state."
Opposition Labor supported the measure overwhelmingly.
The law, which will apply in all four countries that make up the United Kingdom, will now go to the committee stage before returning to the floor for a final vote and is expected to come into force in early 2027.
"Smoking leaves people with premature dementia. It puts them in care attached to oxygen for the rest of their life. It increases the risk of stillbirth by almost 50%, it is responsible for 75,000 GP appointments every month. And it takes around 80,000 lives every year," Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told Parliament as she opened her case for the legislation.
On the economic cost, Atkins claimed the health and social costs of smoking accounted for 7 cents in every $1 of government tax revenue, costing the economy $21.2 billion, far in excess of the $12.4 billion taxes raised from sales of tobacco products.
Ahead of the vote, Sunak urged his party to consider "future generations" and give their backing to what he called at the time he unveiled the policy in October, "the biggest public health intervention in decades."
"Smoking is unequivocally the single biggest preventable cause of death, disability and illness in our society," he told BBC Radio on Tuesday.
Downing Street said the prime minister passionately believed that building "a better future for our children" involved tackling the addictive practice, which was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths each year and cost the National Health Service billions of dollars.
Health charities hailed the move.
Cancer Research U.K., which lobbied for the ban, thanked everyone who supported its Smoke Free U.K. Campaign, calling the passage of the second stage of the bill a "huge day" in a post of X,
Action on Smoking and Health welcomed the step but called for the process to be sped up so that it becomes law before a general election due to be held before the end of the year, arguing it was something the public wanted.
"Parliament has today begun the process of consigning smoking to the ash heap of history. However, this is only the first step, the bill must now go through committee and another vote before going through the same process in the House of Lords," ASH chief executive Deborah Arnott wrote in a post on X.
"The passage of the bills should be expedited to ensure it is on the statute book before the general election. The public, who overwhelmingly support the legislation, expect nothing less."
Conservative opponents argued it represented the start of a slippery slope that could lead to bans on alcohol or fast food. They also warned it could lead to the creation of a black market and that it would be tricky to enforce, particularly with adults of different ages subject to different rules.
"You will get to a stage where if you are 42 years of age, you will be able to buy them but someone aged 41 will not be allowed to," party grandee and former health secretary Lord Clarke said.
"It may prove very difficult to enforce. Future generations will have to see whether it works or not," said Clarke who nevertheless confirmed that would vote for the bill when it came before the House of Lords.
MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, a former deputy chairman of the party, said the government should "get back to trusting adults to make their own decisions".
"As Margaret Thatcher once said: 'When people are free to choose, they choose freedom.'"
