U.K. lawmakers pass ‘smoke-free generation’ bill
LONDON — Britain is poised to launch a worldleading project to create a “smoke-free generation,” after the House of Commons passed a bill Tuesday banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born in 2009 or later.
For years, antismoking health experts have relied on education campaigns and higher taxes to snuff out the habit. Now Britain is going all in on a ban that could spell the end of tobacco here — though wily companies are quickly striving to deliver their nicotine via less harmful delivery systems.
Older smokers in Britain would be allowed to continue to buy tobacco until they quit — or die. But the legislation, which must go through a few more steps before it becomes law, would raise the legal age for purchase each year, so that the prohibition would follow younger people indefinitely.
Smoking itself would not be subject to fines. Just the sales of those products, with fines for retailers.
Vaping products would be excluded from the ban, but the legislation does seek to make vaping less attractive, by changing the packaging — from today’s candy-colored pastels — and by outlawing the popular disposable inhalers that can be found littering the country’s sidewalks.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — who does not drink alcohol or smoke, and who is reported to fast one day a week — has led the fight, arguing that smoking kills tens of thousands of people each year, with most smokers starting in their teens.
But while his signature health legislation passed, 383-67, with the support of Labour lawmakers, it has fomented revolt within his own Conservative Party and fed a debate about what Britain’s conservatives should stand for.
Mr. Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, dubbed the bill the ill-considered work of a “nanny state.”
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Ms. Truss called the ban “emblematic of a technocratic establishment in this country that wants to limit people’s freedom.” She denounced “health police.”
Ms. Truss said the idea that the government should “protect adults from themselves is hugely problematic.”
As in much of the world, smoking rates have declined in Britain (as vaping has increased). But still, about 1 in 8 people in Britain smoked last year — some 6.4 million people. Smoking rates among teens remain high, with more than 12% of 16- and 17-yearolds smoking in England.
Mr. Sunak’s legislation was inspired by New Zealand, which last year passed the toughest anti-tobacco laws in the world, intended to ban sales to those born after Jan. 1, 2009, as well as cut nicotine content and slash the number of tobacco retailers.
Instead, the country’s new government in February announced that it will scrap the rules to help pay for tax cuts — and because, in its estimation, the ban could create an illegal black market that would be hard to control.
Mr. Sunak, anticipating defections in Parliament, allowed a “free vote,” meaning that Conservative lawmakers could vote and express their opinions against the government without punishment.
Business secretary Kemi Badenoch was the first cabinet member to say she would be voting against her boss. She said she objected to an approach “where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights” and put the burden of enforcement on private businesses.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson — who has occupied himself with a newspaper column and speaking gigs since being pressured out of Parliament — pointed to the tobacco ban as a prime example of what’s wrong with his Conservative Party right now.
“When I look at some of the things we are doing now, or that are being done in the name of conservatism, I think they’re absolutely nuts,” he told a gathering in Canada last week.
“We’re banning cigars. What is the point of banning — the party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars! Donnez-moi un break, as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad,” he said, using one of his schoolboy quasi- French phrases.
Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, who served under Mr. Johnson during the pandemic, said his old boss had got it wrong.
“Those people who say it’s all about choice completely misunderstand smoking,” he told ITV on Tuesday.