Labour vows to bail out Rishi Sunak by supporting his plan for a New Zealand-style rolling ban on smoking to get it past opposition from backbench Tories and into law
- Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said Labour MPs would back the ban
- They will be whipped to support the new law in the Commons
Labour today tried to stoke tensions in the Conservative Party by vowing to support Rishi Sunak’s plan to bring in a rolling ban on smoking.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told a Labour conference fringe event on cancer care that opposition MPs will be whipped to back the PM’s plan, which would see a gradual increase in the age at which people can buy tobacco products.
Mr Sunak has allowed Tories a free vote on the subject, with many backbenchers, including his predecessor Liz Truss, saying it is illiberal.
It means that the law could pass the Commons only with the support of the opposition, if the Tory rebellion is large enough.
Mr Streeting said: ‘I know he’s given Liz (Truss) a free vote because the Conservative Party sadly dances to the tune of Nigel Farage these days, quite literally.
‘But the good news I can offer Rishi Sunak is that when it comes to that free vote, Labour will be whipping, we’ll be whipping in favour and we will deliver the votes he needs.
‘So this generation of children grow up smoke-free and are in fact even less likely to smoke than they are to vote Conservative.’
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told a Labour conference fringe event on cancer care that opposition MPs will be whipped to back the PM’s plan, which would see a gradual increase in the age at which people can buy tobacco products.
Allies of Ms Truss, Mr Sunak’s predecessor, said that she would vote against the change when it is put to MPs. It is to be treated as a ‘conscience vote’ by the Tories, meaning MPs do not have to follow a party line.
How have UK laws changed on smoking?
1965 – Cigarette TV adverts banned
1971 – Tobacco industry voluntarily agrees to include health warnings on cigarette packs
1974 – Government asks the tobacco industry to allocate some of its advertising budget to health education
1981 – Cigarette taxation increased by 14p on a packet of 20
1984 – Smoking is banned on London Underground trains
1990 – Government introduces larger EC-mandated health warnings on packets
1991 – New laws tighten up restrictions on sale of cigarettes to under-16s
1998 – EU directive to ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship
2002 – Parliament passes UK tobacco advertising ban
2006 – Scotland bans smoking in nearly all workplaces and enclosed public places, including pubs and clubs
2007 – Smoking ban in England comes into force, legal age for purchasing tobacco is raised from 16 to 18
2012 – Tobacco is banned from display in large stores
2014 – Buying cigarettes for anyone under 18 is made an offence, while the Government gets new powers to introduce standardised packaging
2015 – Ban on displaying tobacco in small shops comes into force, while MPs vote in favour of a ban on smoking in cars with children
2019 – Government makes commitment for England to be smoke-free by 2030
The Prime Minister used his Conservative Party Conference speech to unveil plans to change tobacco laws in the same way as New Zealand.
It would see the current age limit of 18 rise by a year every 12 months and would mean anyone aged 14 or younger now will never be old enough to legally purchase fags.
Health groups and cancer charities lauded the announcement and said it would save thousands of lives from cancer.
Ministers have previously set an objective for England to be smoke-free by 2030.
Labour has previously indicated it would look at a New Zealand-style ban.
In January, MrStreeting said the party would consult on phasing out the sale of cigarettes as part of ‘fresh radical thinking’ to ease pressures on the NHS.
New Zealand is set to implement new laws this year that will make it illegal for anyone born after 2008 to be sold tobacco.
In what is believed to be the first such legislation in the world, the annually rising legal smoking age is aimed at preventing the country’s next generation from ever taking up smoking.
But thinktanks and smoking rights groups reacted with anger to the ban proposed by Mr Sunak, labelling it as ‘hideously illiberal and unconservative’.
Allies of Ms Truss, Mr Sunak’s predecessor, said that she would vote against the change when it is put to MPs. It is to be treated as a ‘conscience vote’, meaning they do not have to follow a party line.
Downing Street could not specify when a free vote on the crackdown on buying cigarettes will be held, but the Prime Minister’s press secretary last week said: ‘Rishi Sunak is a man in a hurry.’
The PM also announced a crackdown on vaping amongst children promising to look at banning child-friendly flavours and packaging that encourage kids to pick up the habit. Disposable devices are also in the firing line.
Mr Sunak’s announcement comes after a major review last year led by Dr Javed Khan backed England following in the footsteps of New Zealand.
Dr Khan recommended ‘increasing the age of sale from 18, by one year, every year until no-one can buy a tobacco product in this country’.
In his Government-commissioned report published in June 2022, Dr Khan said that without urgent action, England would miss the 2030 ‘smoke-free’ target by at least seven years, with the poorest areas not meeting it until 2044.
He put the annual cost to society of smoking at about £17billion – £2.4billion to the NHS alone.
The legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products in England and Wales is 18, having been raised from 16 in 2007 by the previous Labour government.
Ministers were originally wary of the proposal, citing concerns of imposing a ‘nanny-state’ policy on the public.
However, surveys have suggested the majority of the public support the policy.
A YouGov survey last year showed 57 per cent of Brits supported the progressive age-based ban.
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