The Tobacco and Vapes bill committee has been set up

The consistency of the Tobacco and Vapes bill committee has been published by the government, where there are 10 sitting Conservative MPs, 6 Labour MPs and 1 MP from the Scottish Nationalist Party, including the Conservative MP Steve Tuckwell for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, from whom none have voted against the bill and 16 voted in favour of it with one abstention from the Labour Party, who is Mary Kelly Foy, vice-chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Smoking and Health, run by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), of which a quarter of the Tobacco and Vapes bill committee are sitting members. The Tobacco and Vapes bill committee will be considering amendments to the bill during May.

In reaction to the fact that none of the committee members voted against the bill, the director and chairman of the smokers’ rights group FOREST Simon Clark said that “Committees don’t need to be balanced but this is such an obvious stitch-up it’s embarrassing. The makeup of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee is effectively a f*ck-you to every MP who voted against the Bill, and every member of the public who opposes the generational smoking ban”.

The Tobacco and Vapes bill intends to phase out the act and social custom of smoking by increasing the minimum age requirement to buy tobacco gradually every year, having passed its second reading with a free vote by MPs in the House of Commons on the 16th of April, where 383 voted for it and 67 voted against. Its first reading had taken place on the 20th of March. 59 of the MPs who did not vote in favour of the bill were Conservative while it was supported almost in full by the Labour Party.

In sight of the bill forbidding the purchase of tobacco from future generations of adults for those who were born after 2009, which it effectively treats as children by reciprocally also treating children like the adults who were born after 2009, according to the same wording, the only hope that can be seen for the cause of smokers and respecting their rights is to amend the bill by raising the minimum age to buy tobacco to 21 instead of annually. Setting the age requirement to buy tobacco to 21 has been a measure that was implemented by Donald Trump’s presidency in most American States during 2019, and has so far avoided the implementation of generational smoking bans proposed in various U.S. jurisdictions.

Update: On Tuesday the 30th of April, the Tobacco and Vapes bill committee has considered oral evidence and amendments to the bill by the following individuals:

1. Michelle Mitchell OBE (Chief Executive at Cancer Research UK)
2. Deborah Arnott (Chief Executive at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH))
3. Sheila Duffy (Chief Executive at Action on Smoking and Health Scotland)
4. Dr Charmaine Griffiths (Chief Executive at British Heart Foundation)
5. Sarah Sleet (Chief Executive Officer at Asthma and Lung UK)
6. Dr Patrick Roach (General Secretary at NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union)
7. Matthew Shanks (Chair at Secondary Teacher Reference Group)
8. Paul Farmer (Chief Executive at Age UK)
9. Cllr David Fothergill (Deputy Chair of the LGA, Chairman of the LGA Community Wellbeing Board at Local Government Association (LGA))
10. Greg Fell (President at Association of Directors of Public Health)
11. Ailsa Rutter OBE (Director at Fresh and Balance North East)
12. Adrian Simpson (Policy Adviser – Retail Products at British Retail Consortium)
13. John Herriman (CEO at Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI))
14. Kate Pike (CTSI Lead Officer for Vaping at Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI))
15. Laura Young (PhD Student at Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, University of Dundee)
16. Professor Linda Bauld OBE (Bruce and John Usher Chair in Public Health at University of Edinburgh)
17. Professor Robert West (Professor Emeritus of Health Psychology at University College London (UCL))
18. Professor Ann McNeill (Professor of Tobacco Addiction at King’s College London)
19. Professor Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England
20. Sir Francis Atherton, Chief Medical Officer for Wales
21. Professor Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland
22. Professor Sir Gregor Ian Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland
23. Professor Sir Steven Powis (National Medical Director at NHS England)
24. Kate Brintworth (Chief Midwifery Officer at NHS England)
25. Professor Kamilla Hawthorne MBE (Chair of the Council at Royal College of General Practitioners)
26. Professor Steve Turner (President at Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH))
27. Professor Sanjay Agrawal (RCP’s special adviser on tobacco at Royal College of Physicians)
28. Dr Tim Mitchell (President at Royal College of Surgeons)
29. Mark Rowland (Chief Executive at Mental Health Foundation)
30. Dr Laura Squire OBE (Chief Healthcare Quality and Access Officer at Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA))
31. Mr David Lawson (Director at Inter Scientific Ltd.)
32. Professor Allison Ford (Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at University of Stirling)
33. Dr Rob Branston (Senior Lecturer at University of Bath)
34. Professor Anna Gilmore (Professor of Public Health at University of Bath)