Keir Starmer's Labour government is aiming to prevent children from ever taking up smoking in the UK, by raising the age at which you can legally buy cigarettes every year. If it goes ahead, people born on or after 1st January 2009 will never be able to buy tobacco products.
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The bill was unveiled at the King's Speech yesterday, and the Government think that it could reduce the rates of smoking amongst 14-30 year olds to zero by 2040. Other nicotine products like vapes must also stop being advertised in ways that would appeal to children, with ministers being given the power to challenge the industry on flavours, packaging, and display methods.
Shops that sell to those under the steadily rising age limit will be fined with Fixed Penalty Notices. The law would extend across the UK, with measures being different depending on how devolved nations choose to enforce it.
It is estimated that 6.4 million people in the UK smoke, amounting to 12.7% of adults. Experts believe that smoking will cause around 500,000 deaths by 2030 if no action is taken.
Government figures say that smoking costs the UK up to £17 billion per year, with £10 billion of that in "lost productivity". An estimated £10 billion is raised in taxes on tobacco products.
The Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, said: “A smoke-free country would prevent disease, disability and premature deaths long into the future. Smoking causes harm across the life course from stillbirths, asthma in children, cancers, strokes, heart attacks and dementia. Most smokers wish they had never started."
"Second hand smoke causes harm including to vulnerable people. The Bill to create to a smoke free country in the King’s Speech would be a major step forward in public health.”
The new bill is similar to one that former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had hoped to introduce before he called an election earlier in the year, but it was cut before Parliament got the chance to vote on it. Speaking at the Conservative Party conference last year, he said: "We must tackle the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability and death. That is smoking in our country... It significantly increases the risk of stroke, heart disease, dementia and stillbirth."
Have your say in our comments section - do you support the government's plan to eradicate smoking?
