Tobacco and Vapes Bill Latest
Wes Streeting has spoken to Parliament about the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and expressed his intention to attack vaping with stricter regulations
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by Dave Cross
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Wes Streeting has spoken to Parliament to express his intention to attack vaping. Termed “strengthening the laws on vaping and smoking”, most see the measures as being a retrograde step and will serve to dissuade smokers from switching away from tobacco.
Initially proposed by the Conservatives when they were in government, Streeting has said that Labour intends to present a "more ambitious" version of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Plans likely to be presented to the House include:
- Banning vaping near schools
- Banning smoking in beer gardens and similar public spaces
Despite conducting a consultation with the public looking at the NHS's future and health prevention strategies, vapers and our advocacy organisation continue not to be consulted about potential ecig regulations.
The steps are being taken under the umbrella of creating a “smoke-free generation” and preventing teen access to vapes – but ignores that underage sales are already illegal and that teens don’t go to beer gardens to vape.
The Government intends to reduce the appeal of vapes to children, saying: “We also announced that new powers will be introduced to restrict vape flavours and packaging. The powers will also allow government to change how vapes are displayed in shops.
“To crack down on underage sales, the government will also bring in quicker and simpler £100 on the spot fines (fixed penalty fines) for shops in England and Wales which sell tobacco and vapes underage. Local authorities will retain 100% of the proceeds to reinvest into enforcement of this Bill and other existing tobacco and vaping controls. This builds on a maximum £2,500 fine that the courts can already impose.”
The Government are in denial about the likely unintended consequences of cracking down on vaping.
It says: “Will this lead to an illicit market? No. History shows that targeted tobacco control measures have a positive impact on tackling the problems of illicit tobacco. For example, when the smoking age was increased from 16 to 18 the number of illicit cigarettes consumed fell by 25%. The government is also providing additional powers and funding for enforcement to ensure the laws are effective.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the proposed measures offer up a “once in a generation” opportunity to improve the health of the nation.
Wes Streeting promised that the finer details of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be realised before Christmas – news welcomed by Action on Smoking and Health, who said the legislation must be introduced as a priority.
Tory Paul Holmes, the Conservative MP for Hamble Valley, pressed the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on his plans. He wanted to know if conversations have been held to discuss the impact of the generational smoking ban on tax revenue and referenced findings by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Andrew Gwynne, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department of Health and Social Care, told him: “The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be the biggest public health intervention in a generation, tackling the harms of smoking and paving the way for a smoke-free United Kingdom. Smoking costs the economy and wider society £21.8 billion a year. This includes an annual £18.3 billion loss to productivity, through smoking related lost earnings, unemployment, and early death, along with £3.1 billion of costs to the National Health Service and social care. This exceeds the £8.8 billion received in tobacco duties in 2023/24.Alongside the bill, we will publish an impact assessment which will include an estimate for the impact on tobacco duty receipts. HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs have consulted on proposals for a Vaping Products Duty. This would seek to discourage non-smokers and young people from taking up vaping and to raise revenue. HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs are reviewing the responses to this consultation and will respond in due course.”
Photo Credit:
Photo by Toni Pomar on Unsplash, resized and cropped
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
