The Labour Party, most likely to win the elections held on the 4th of July, is sticking to its programme in its well-known view that it should ban the purchase of tobacco by young people and all future generations of adult citizens. Labour is much more supportive of all anti-smoking restrictions than the Conservative Party from whose leader the proposal and bill came before the election was called.
The Labour party currently in opposition leads the ruling Conservative party in all opinion polls by an upwardly increasing margin. The incremental ban on tobacco purchases was inspired by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his party’s last annual conference when it was held last year, and has since been mentioned in the King’s Speech before the bill was voted by the House of Commons on the 16th of April (with 383 votes in favour of, 67 votes against and 200 abstentions or blank votes).
The representative-approved bill needed to pass through the upper House of Lords, a lengthy process left with no time left before the election. The bill is backed unanimously by Labour, who want to make it into law after their most likely victory after the 4th of July, but will need to submit a different bill from the outset with a different or similar text. The already drafted “Tobacco and Vapes Bill” which was shelved after the election was announced will not be able to be reused by the next government if it emerges from another party. Under its provisions, people born after 2009 will not be allowed to purchase tobacco from the market even after 2027, when those born in the same year will have legal responsibility having turned 18.
“We must take preventative public health measures to tackle the biggest killers and support people to live longer, healthier lives. That starts with smoking. Labour will ensure the next generation can never legally buy cigarettes. Labour will ban vapes from being branded and advertised to appeal to children to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine.” reads the Labour Party’s elections manifesto. Something that shadow health minister Wes Streeting expressed during the previous debate of the Conservative bill that his party would fall on “like a ton of bricks” to materialise.
Meanwhile, in Ireland, the parliament and its members are deciding whether tobacco should be allowed only for over-21s, raising the minimum age limit for tobacco purchases from 18 years of majority to 21 years of self-guardianship. This has been the law in most US states since Donald Trump’s presidency, where the lowest smoking rates have been recorded.
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