UK’S SUNAK CONSIDERS BANNING CIGARETTES FOR NEXT GENERATION -REPORT

Sat 23 September 2023:

UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak is considering introducing some of the world’s toughest anti-smoking measures that would in effect ban the next generation from ever being able to buy cigarettes, the Guardian reported on Friday.

According to the Whitehall sources, PM Sunak was looking at measures similar to those brought in by New Zealand last December. They involved steadily increasing the legal smoking age so tobacco would end up never being sold to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.

A New Zealand-style anti-smoking policy would mean cigarettes would be phased out completely for the next generation. Under the former prime minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand also legislated to reduce the nicotine content of tobacco products and force them to be sold only through specialty tobacco stores, rather than convenience stores and supermarkets.

Labour has previously said it was consulting on phasing out cigarette sales over time for younger people in a similar way to New Zealand, with the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, saying in January he wanted to find out whether there was an “appetite for change” in the country.

Asked about the policy of a New Zealand style-smoking ban, a government spokesperson said: “Smoking is a deadly habit – it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy.

“We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing 1 million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit, and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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