A perverse new law

The House of Commons will today debate the Second Reading of one of the more bizarre measures ever put before the legislature. MPS are to have a free vote on whether to reduce smoking through a progressive increase in the legal age for purchasing tobacco, with the aim of eradicating the habit within a generation.

The idea was floated by Rishi Sunak in his party conference speech last year and seeks to emulate a similar plan proposed by Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand. However, when her Labour party lost power, the legislation was repealed by the incoming centre-right National government.

Nonetheless, here it is a Conservative administration that is pursuing this cause. The legal age at which people can buy tobacco will rise annually from the age of 18. Disposable vapes will also be banned outright, while reusable ones will be limited to four flavours. Anyone born after January 1 2009 will be prohibited from ever being able to buy cigarettes, or indeed cigars.

This is a very non-conservative, anti-freedom move that Mr Sunak said was justified by the health benefits. The problem with that argument is that there are other health-threatening items whose sale could also be banned, such as junk foods, fizzy drinks and alcohol.

There will be perverse consequences. After a while, it will be legal for one adult in a household to buy tobacco but not another, the antithesis of equality under the law.

Mr Sunak seemingly sees this measure as part of his legacy. But rather than removing the state from people’s lives, it marks yet another extension of its writ. Labour, of course, is all for it, which should give Conservatives pause for thought.