MPs this week voted to back Rishi Sunak’s legislation that will ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2009.
The prime minister first floated the policy at last year’s Conservative Party conference and this week his Tobacco & Vapes Bill passed its second reading by 383 votes to 67, despite considerable opposition from within the Tory party, including business secretary Kemi Badenoch and former PM Liz Truss.
The law is expected to come into effect from 2027 with the legal age for the sale of tobacco increasing, from its current level of 18, by one year every year. On-the-spot fines will be introduced for stores that breach the regulations, on top of existing fines of £2,500 that can already be imposed by courts for underage tobacco sales.
The legislation has been criticised by the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association, which suggested the bill would fuel the already burgeoning illicit trade in tobacco and risked sparking further retail crime. It released details of a new survey of 12,000 smokers that found 80% had bought illicit tobacco at least once in the past year.
“I believe that there will be profound and far-reaching repercussions for consumers, retailers, law enforcement agencies and communities across the UK if a phased generational ban becomes law,” said TMA director Rupert Lewis. “In time, it will push the entire UK tobacco market underground.”
The government has sought to allay fears the move would benefit the illicit trade by committing to spend £30m on enforcement of the new law and tackling black market sales.
Meanwhile anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking & Health said it carried out a recent poll of retailers and found 51% supported the generational ban while just 26% opposed it.
“ASH has commissioned a number of surveys of small retailers since 2016 and they consistently show that retailers support tougher regulation of tobacco and do not think tobacco laws have damaged their business,” said ASH deputy CEO Hazel Cheeseman.
“Tobacco manufacturers and the organisations they fund claim that regulations cause problems for retailers and are too difficult to implement, but history says otherwise.”
Shopworkers’ union Usdaw said it supported the intention of the bill but did express concerns about the impact on the safety of retail staff.
No comments yet