MPs vote for ban on buying cigarettes for people born after 2009

MPs have voted for new legislation that aims to protect future generations across the UK from the harmful effects of smoking and bans anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed by 383 votes to 67 taking it one step closer to being passed into law and creating some of the strictest smoking laws in the world.

The restrictions will apply to the sale of cigarettes in the UK rather than the act of smoking itself. Smoking itself would not be criminalised and anyone who can legally buy tobacco today will never be prevented from doing so in the future by the legislation.

It would effectively raise the legal age for buying cigarettes in England by one year every year, until it applies to the whole population.

Responsible for around 80,000 deaths annually, smoking is the UK’s single biggest preventable killer and costs the NHS and economy an estimated £17 billion a year – far more than the £10 billion annual revenue from tobacco taxation.

It also comes as new research shows that among women of reproductive age, there appears to have been a 25% rise in smoking prevalence in the middle classes over the past decade.

Dr Ian Walker, Executive Director of Policy at Cancer Research UK, said:  “This vote is a critical step towards the UK becoming a world leader in tobacco control. By voting in favour of the age of sale legislation, MPs will be putting us on the right side of history, and helping to create the first ever smokefree generation.

“Smoking is still the leading cause of cancer in the UK. Now is the time to take action, end cancers caused by smoking and save lives.”

Additional funding to stop people smoking cigarettes

The bill will help deliver the Prime Minister’s commitment of creating a smokefree generation, which could prevent over 470,000 cases of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and other deadly diseases by the turn of the century.

Alongside action to prevent creating future smokers, the government has already announced significant additional funding for stop smoking services over the next 5 years, effectively doubling the money available for local initiatives that can help existing smokers to quit. The government is also rolling out an innovative financial incentives scheme to help all pregnant smokers to quit.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill would also give the government new powers to tackle youth vaping by restricting flavours and regulating the way that vapes are sold and packaged to make them less appealing to children.

To ensure compliance with the new rules, trading standards officers will be given new powers to issue on-the-spot fines (fixed penalty notices) to retailers unlawfully selling tobacco or vapes to children. All the money raised would be used to fund further enforcement action.

The bill follows the government’s previously stated commitment to ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes under existing environmental legislation, which have been a key factor behind the rise in youth vaping. The ban is planned to take effect from April 2025.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:  “It is very encouraging to see the Tobacco and Vapes Bill pass its second reading in parliament and take another step to becoming law. GPs see the devastating consequences of smoking day in day out in our surgeries. We see patients facing years of ill health, preventable conditions, and even early death because of smoking.

“We also know how incredibly hard it can be to give up smoking once it becomes an addiction. It is far better to never have started smoking, so we really welcome this legislation which could create the first generation of non-smokers.

“We’ve made huge strides to stop smoking in the last decade, and the health benefits of the 2007 smoking ban are clear. We now need to build on the progress we’ve made and create a generation who don’t smoke and don’t face the terrible health consequences.”