Tory unity up in smoke (again!)
Blow for Rishi as 59 of his MPs – like Kemi – vote against cigarette ban
KEMI Badenoch led a major ministerial backlash last night against Rishi Sunak’s plan to ban young people from ever smoking.
almost half of his MPs failed to support his flagship policy for a ‘smoke-free generation’.
The Business Secretary was among 59 Tories who voted against the proposals in the Tobacco and Vaping Bill over concerns on equality and enforcement.
and some 106 Conservatives abstained, including Commons leader Penny Mordaunt.
While some were unable to cast a vote due to foreign travel, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the scale of abstentions means only just over half of Tory MPs – 180 – backed the Bill.
Six ministers voted against it, along with a number of senior Tories, such as Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, seen as Tory leadership contenders, as well as former PM liz Truss.
But labour and other opposition parties – including the liberal Democrats who want to legalise cannabis – backed the Bill, allowing it to pass comfortably. The legislation will ban tobacco sales to anybody born on or after January 1, 2009. This means children aged 15 or younger today will never legally be sold a cigarette in England.
It also gives the Government powers to tackle youth vaping, with restrictions on flavours plus new rules on packaging and selling vapes. Mr Sunak had made it a free vote – allowing MPs to decide according to their conscience rather than the party line – but the scale of the vote against is a major blow for the PM.
Ms Truss branded it a ‘virtuesignalling piece of legislation’ that she said was the result of a ‘technocratic establishment’ that aims to ‘limit people’s freedom’.
Mrs Badenoch – a leading contender to replace Mr Sunak as Tory leader – had said that while she thinks smoking is an ‘unpleasant habit’ that is ‘costly for both the individual and society’, she would vote against it. She posted: ‘The principle of equality under the law is a fundamental one. It underpins many of my beliefs.
‘We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights. among other reasons, it will create difficulties with enforcement.’
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘Smoking claims 80,000 lives a year and it costs the nation nearly £17billion a year through ill-health and sickness.’
Health Secretary Victoria atkins admitted that she understood concerns about the Government ‘ banning things’ but added: ‘There is no liberty in addiction.’
‘Limit people’s freedom’