Just days ahead of the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes bill containing provisions and articles to phase out smoking in Britain by gradually raising the minimum age required to buy tobacco by one year every year until no one is allowed to buy it in the future, which will take place in the House of Commons on the 16th of April, the country’s former prime minister Boris Johnson who was toppled from power from 52 cabinet members reiterated his opposition speaking at the 2024 Canadian Conference on Strong and Free Canada alongside former Australian prime minister Tony Abbot, saying that:
“The difference between us conservatives and our opponents are that every time their instincts are always control and expropriation and coercion and taking your money and spending it on your behalf and regulating your lives and, and and… We are on the whole in favour of freedom and that is that single Anglo-Saxon idea of freedom that I think unites conservatives, or should unite conservatives. And when I look at some of the things that we’re doing now, I think that are being done in the name of conservatism I think they’re absolutely nuts, and you know I see my own beloved party which as I say I hope we’ll be shortly infected with the great – well not infected, what’s infused, invigorated, transfused with the Canadian can do spirit, and we turn things around in the next few months – but you know, we’re banning cigars, and what is I mean that maybe you all think that’s a great idea. I just can’t see what is the point of banning with the party of Winston Churchill. Wants to ban. I mean give us break as they say in Quebec, you know it’s just mad and you know so, and by the way it’s freedom, democratic societies, freedom to say what you want, freedom to take risks, freedom to invest your money how you choose, freedom to spend your own, freedom to vote for whomsoever you choose and to make sure that your vote matters, those freedoms really matter, and they are contested around the world, they’re not trivial, they’re not banal, there are plenty and plenty of countries now which are restricting those freedoms.”
Boris Johnson
But Britain’s next Prime Minister Liz Truss, who like Boris Johnson was toppled by her cabinet with inner-party disagreements between MPs and members of the Conservative Party over that government’s economic policy, also opposes the extreme restriction of smoking abolition, an initiative of her successor, Indian Prime Minister of the UK Rishi Sunak, saying days ago before the first reading of the bill held on the 20th of March, that:
While the state has a duty to protect children from harm, in a free society, adults must be able to make their own choices about their own lives. Banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or later will create an absurd situation where adults enjoy different rights based on their birthdate. A Conservative government should not be seeking to extend the nanny state. This will only give succour to those who wish to ban further choices of which they don’t approve. The newly-elected National government in New Zealand is already reversing the generational tobacco ban proposed by the previous administration. The Government urgently needs to follow suit and reverse this profoundly un-conservative policy.
Liz Truss
The Tobacco and Vapes draft bill amounting for an initiative of the Prime Minister rather than the health secretary of the country, has been much discussed by English society and the media and the press, but no one who disagrees or opposes can intervene with what is happening in parliament by playing the role of observer in democracy. It is supported entirely by the main opposition Labour party and partly by the ruling Conservative party with divided views between the party spectrum and MPs. The most intense and extreme restriction it includes for phasing out smoking was revoked by New Zealand after the elections and the formation of the coalition government by 2 libertarian and 1 conservative party, where it was enacted by the previous Labour government on the 13th of December 2022, expecting to implement it from July this year.
The smokers’ rights group FOREST has repeatedly voiced their opposition by promoting the chairman’s declarations to the press and media and organising a reception for its members last year and this year an official reception for political leaders and political groups within parliament.
SCRAP THE SMOKING BAN 