Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said there is “no freedom in addiction” as he defended the Government’s plans to create a “smoke-free generation” by gradually raising the age at which tobacco can be bought.
Anyone born after January 1 2009 will be prevented from legally smoking if the Tobacco and Vapes Bill becomes law.
The Bill faced criticism during its second reading, with Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell arguing that people should be able to make their own choices, and the Liberal Democrats claiming it “raises issues of civil liberties”.
On Tuesday, the Bill cleared its first hurdle in the House of Commons, with MPs voting 415 to 47, majority 368, to approve it.
There was a free vote for Tory MPs, with former health secretary Victoria Atkins among the 23 Conservatives who voted in favour of the Bill while 35 Tories were listed as voting against.
The legislation includes a total ban on vape advertising and sponsorship, including displays seen by children and young people such as on buses, in cinemas and in shop windows, bringing them in line with tobacco restrictions.
Opening the second reading debate, Mr Streeting said: “This Bill will come down on the vaping industry like a ton of bricks to prevent a new generation of children and young people from getting hooked on nicotine.”
Conservative MP Bob Blackman called for the legislation to go further to include a levy on tobacco companies’ profits to hold them responsible “for the blight on our population’s health”.
“Both of my parents died from smoking-related cancer. My late mother was only 47, and she was a very heavy smoker all her life. I was then left as a 23-year-old with three younger sisters to bring up as a family,” he said.
“I don’t want any families in this country to have to go through what our family went through then. So this for me is personal, as well as political.”
Romford MP Mr Rosindell said “banning things very rarely works”, adding: “Surely we should be promoting the concept of freedom with responsibility and allowing people to make choices about their own lives?”
Responding to the intervention, Mr Streeting said tobacco is “uniquely addictive, uniquely harmful”, adding: “There is no liberty in addiction. There is no freedom in addiction, and the logical extension of the libertarian argument he puts forward would be the end of the ban on indoor smoking.”
The Liberal Democrats’ health spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: “The introduction of a phased smoking ban is problematic and not because Liberal Democrats want to see people smoke themselves into an early grave – far from it – but because it raises issues of practicality and raises issues of civil liberties.”
She warned that the Bill “raises the prospect of an ID card, because those people who do choose to start smoking will potentially be forced to carry an ID card or some other form of ID with them for the rest of their lives, and that is a concern for a Liberal Democrat who is strongly opposed to requiring people to carry their ID around with them for various issues of privacy and personal liberty”.
“We are stopping people from ever starting smoking and 83% of smokers start before the age of 20, this means that someone who has never previously smoked is highly unlikely to want to take up smoking later in life.
“And our published modelling shows that smoking rates in England for 14 to 30-year-olds could be close to 0% as early as 2050, with the measures in this Bill.”
Reform UK MP James McMurdock (South Basildon and East Thurrock) urged the Government to “think very carefully” about its “remit”.
He said: “I would just ask everyone in the room to consider what kind of world and country we actually want to live in, one where we could send one of the kids down to the shop, pick something up for us, or one where we literally are forced to police people’s behaviour in parks?
“And I think we should think very carefully about what our remit is as a Government.”
Earlier in the debate, Mr Streeting told the Commons that the Government “will consult on banning smoking outside schools, hospitals and in playgrounds, protecting children and vulnerable people from the harms of second-hand smoke”, as part of the Bill.
He also confirmed the consultation will not be extended to pubs and other outdoor hospitality spaces.
The Bill also includes powers to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco, vape and nicotine products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Shopkeepers found to be selling to anyone under age will receive on-the-spot fines of £200.
