UK parliament debates progressive anti-smoking laws

Britain’s parliament on Tuesday opened its first debate on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s planned flagship legislation to prevent young people from smoking, despite opposition from many in his own Conservative Party.

The law 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.

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”.

While the law looks set to be passed thanks to support from opposition parties – including Labor, which is expected to win this year’s election – Sunak faces opposition from backbench Conservative MPs.

The embattled leader has little political capital to invest within his fractured party as he struggles to revive its fortunes after months of dire poll results.

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.

Lawmakers will vote on Tuesday night whether to approve plans for the next phase of the legislative process.

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

There are reports that some cabinet members are considering voting against, and Westminster observers will be closely studying the scale of the rebellion to see how it affects Sunak’s authority.

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 it less attractive to children.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)