Rishi Sunak’s UK teen quitting plan clears first hurdle

London:

A controversial bill aimed at eventually phasing out smoking in the UK made progress in Parliament on Tuesday, with the House of Commons voting in favor of the controversial measure.

The bill would ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after January 1, 2009 – effectively raising the smoking age by one year each year until it applies to the entire population.

Britain’s parliament on Tuesday launched a debate on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s planned flagship legislation, despite opposition from many in his own Conservative Party.

Unveiling the plan, the government said it “has the potential to almost completely phase out smoking among young people as early as 2040”, calling the move “historic”.

In the first vote on the bill, 383 MPs voted in favor and 67 voted against.

The bill needs to be passed by the House of Lords to become law.

Nearly 60 Conservative MPs were among those opposed to the bill, including Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and other senior secretaries of state.

Conservative MPs were given a free vote, meaning they could defy the government without fear of being suspended from the party.

Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer, and polls show that around two-thirds of Britons support a phased ban.

However, liberal-leaning MPs on the right wing of the ruling Conservative Party, including former prime minister Liz Truss, called the move an attack on personal freedoms.

Conservative MP Simon Clarke told BBC radio he was “both skeptical and completely opposed” to the plans.

“I think an outright ban could be counterproductive, I think it has the potential to actually make smoking cooler, it certainly has the potential to create a black market, and it also has the potential to create challenges for authorities that are difficult to control,” he said.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson also told an event in Canada last week that Winston Churchill’s party was “crazy” for banning cigars.

Electronic cigarette clamp

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told the House of Commons at the start of the government debate that “there is no freedom in addiction”.

“Nicotine takes away people’s freedom of choice. The vast majority of smokers start smoking at a young age and three quarters say they would not have started smoking if they could turn back time,” she said.

The proposed ban was said to be inspired by a similar scheme in New Zealand, which was later abandoned.

Official figures show that smoking causes around a quarter of cancer deaths, killing 64,000 people a year in England.

“If Parliament passes this new bill, the UK will be at the forefront of the fight to eliminate one of the most harmful inventions of modern times,” said Lion Shahab, co-director of the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group at University College London.

The legislation also seeks to limit vaping by young people by limiting flavors and packaging to make e-cigarettes less attractive to children.

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