Cigarette sales ban may be unworkable, says Streeting

WES STREETING has appeared to row back on his suggestion that a Labour government could ban the sale of cigarettes to eradicate smoking by 2030.

The shadow health secretary raised the idea at the weekend as part of a push for “fresh, radical thinking” needed to ease pressure on the NHS.

He also noted a review ordered by Sajid Javid while he was health secretary which urged the gradual phasing out of cigarettes by raising the age of sale from 18 by one year every year, so the children of today will never be allowed to buy tobacco.

But on BBC Breakfast yesterday, Mr Streeting said: “The New Zealand government is doing it. I have got to say we are approaching it with an open mind.

“I am not entirely convinced, I saw some of the headlines this morning following an interview I did yesterday, I am not entirely convinced that the ban would be workable.”

The 39-year-old said he would have a “big conversation with the public and with health professionals this year, not only about how we treat illness but crucially how we prevent it”.