CRUK Celebrates New Bill
Cancer Research UK has welcomed the Tobacco and Vapes Bill passing its Second Reading, calling it a “significant step forward” towards a smokefree Britain
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by Dave Cross
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Cancer Research UK called the vote on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill “another significant step forward for our Smokefree UK campaign”, as MPs overwhelmingly supported the piece of legislation at its Second Reading. The charity added that this legislation could help prevent future generations from taking up smoking – the biggest cause of cancer in the UK.
Dr Ian Walker, executive director of policy at Cancer Research UK, said: “MPs have put themselves on the right side of history by listening to the views of their constituents and the stark evidence from health experts. Today’s vote brings us closer to a smokefree UK and a future free from the harms of tobacco. Now we need to see the Tobacco and Vapes Bill move swiftly through Parliament and implemented across the UK. This historic legislation will help to break the cycle of addiction and put an end to cancers caused by smoking.”
The journey here
Cancer Research UK states: “This is important to us because smoking is the biggest cause of cancer and death in the UK and there are still around 6 million people smoking in the UK. But smoking rates don’t come down on their own, they come down with government action. That’s why Cancer Research UK – alongside our partners and supporters – has been campaigning for over a decade for action to end cancers caused by smoking.
“Yesterday, we published new projections, as mentioned in the debate, showing that – based on current trends – smoking could cause almost 300,000 cancer cases in the UK over the next five years. Around 2,800 of these cases are expected to be caused by second-hand smoke exposure in people who have never smoked.
“We can ensure that this trend doesn’t continue in the future. That’s why we urged MPs to prioritise the nation’s health by voting in favour of this world-leading legislation. Many of our campaigns ambassadors and supporters have also been emailing their MPs to encourage them to vote in favour of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.”
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was officially introduced to Parliament (known as the First Reading) earlier this month.
“If it becomes law,” CRUK continued, “the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will make sure that people born on or after 1 January 2009 can never legally be sold tobacco in their lifetime, helping to create the first ever smokefree generation.
“Smoking itself won’t be criminalised, and anyone who can legally buy tobacco now won’t be prevented from doing so in future.
“We’ve calculated that up to 9.7 million fewer cigarettes will be smoked per day by 2040 if the age of sale legislation is successfully implemented across the UK.
“While the key element of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is undeniably raising the age of sale, there are many other measures that are included.
“These include powers to extend smokefree places, the introduction of a licensing scheme for selling tobacco, vapes and nicotine products and the extension of plain packaging laws to all tobacco products, not just cigarettes.
“The Bill also introduces several measures aimed at curbing youth vaping, such as prohibiting advertising of vapes on all channels and banning vape vending machines. Government will also have new powers to regulate vape product design and make changes to how vapes are packaged and displayed.”
MPs voted 415 to 47 in favour of the Bill – a majority of 368.
Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, spoke of the importance of the legislation and highlighted that there is no liberty in addiction, as tobacco is a uniquely addictive and harmful substance.
What will happen next
Today was a key step, but the Bill still has some way to go. Next, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will go through a Committee Stage, where MPs in the committee go through the Bill, line-by-line, and propose and debate amendments.
Then comes the Report Stage, where all MPs can propose amendments to the Bill before being invited to take a final vote on it. There will likely be further debate at this stage regarding key amendments.
The full process will then be repeated in the House of Lords. After that, following what is known as ‘ping pong’ where the Commons and the Lords seek agreement on the final wording of the Bill, it will then receive Royal Assent, which is when the King agrees to make it law.
Since the Bill includes some aspects that are UK-wide, each devolved nation will also be required to vote in their respective legislatures on whether to approve this Bill so that it can be introduced in their nations.
The charity concluded: “It’s vital that MPs and parliamentarians in the devolved nations support the Tobacco and Vapes Bill through its legislative journey, and champion a smokefree generation, to help end cancers caused by smoking.”
Photo Credit:
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash, cropped, resized, coloured
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.
