Revealed: How Sunak dropped smoking ban amid lobbying from tobacco companies

Rishi Sunak abandoned his “legacy” policy to ban smoking for future generations amid a tobacco industry backlash in the form of legal threats, lobbying and a charm offensive aimed at Conservative MPs, an investigation has found.

The UK was on track to become the first country to ban smoking for future generations, through Tobacco and Vaping Laws. Downing Street hoped that this law would define Sunak’s place in British political history.

An investigation by the Guardian and the researcha non-profit organization that researches global health threats has revealed how the UK’s biggest cigarette makers are opposing the policy, which would raise the minimum smoking age by one year every year.

After months of fierce opposition from the industry – and intervention from MPs and think tanks with ties to tobacco companies – the proposal was excluded from the “wash-up” process, when outgoing governments chose which policies to fast-track and which to drop.

The policy, which effectively banned smoking for anyone born after 2009, was not included, despite MPs agreeing to it.

Documents and disclosure requests show how four of the world’s largest tobacco companies – Britain’s Imperial Brands and British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and US-based Philip Morris International (PMI) – notified of a legal backlash.

Imperial and BAT wrote to Health Minister Victoria Atkins in February claiming the consultation process leading up to the legislation was “unlawful” because industry views had not been considered.

The Department of Health and Social Care has said it does not need to take the industry’s views into account, citing guidance in a global treaty from the World Health Organisation, to which the UK is a signatory, which states that governments should set smoking policies without the influence of cigarette manufacturers.

Marlboro owner PMI and JTI, which makes Camel and Benson & Hedges, said the treaty allows interactions with cigarette makers if they are “necessary.”

Imperial, which owns Lambert & Butler and Gauloises, followed up its warning with a legal letter threatening a “judicial investigation” into the consultation process.

Government lawyers responded by saying legal action could “derail” a bill that ministers believed could save tens of thousands of lives and billions of pounds in NHS costs.

BAT, JTI and PMI were named as interested parties in Imperial’s letter, giving them the right to join as co-plaintiffs if a judicial review were to take place.

Imperial, which sells half of all cigarettes smoked in the UK, has not filed a lawsuit, but a spokesperson said the company was “monitoring the situation closely as we review legislative developments”.

The legal threats came after the industry opposed the legislation in its submissions to the consultation, despite having publicly stated that it wanted to phase out cigarettes.

PMI CEO Jacek Olczak indicated in 2021 interviews that the company could stop selling cigarettes in the United Kingdom within 10 years.

However, the company’s UK subsidiary said during the consultation that it “does not support the ban on the age of sale as set out”. Instead, it called for “further restrictions” on “combustible tobacco” – that is, cigarettes – rather than an outright ban.

PMI told the Guardian that the bill risked “confusing” consumers because it placed restrictions on certain smoke-free products such as vapes, adding that it “firmly believes in phasing out cigarettes in favor of the 6.4 million adult smokers in Britain”.

BAT, which has previously advocated a ‘smokeless’ future, proposed raising the sales age to 21 instead.

As the government pushed ahead with its plans despite opposition, tobacco companies tried to lure right-wing and libertarian Tory MPs. In January, three months after Sunak announced his smoking policy, then Clacton MP Giles Watling attended a “business lunch” with JTI officials. Two months later, he went to the company’s annual party at the British Museum in London.

In May he proposed an amendment that would replace Sunak’s proposals with a new minimum age of 21.

“We strongly believe that engagement results in better and more informed policy and is therefore in the best interests of all relevant parties,” JTI said. Watling did not respond to requests for comment.

skip the newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

Other MPs targeted by the tobacco industry included Economy Minister Kemi Badenoch. The Imported Tobacco Products Advisory Council wrote her a letter in March complaining about the “overt rejection of industry views in the decision-making process”.

Secretary-General Tatiana Camacho accused the Health Ministry of “taking a position that appears to be contrary to the spirit of cooperation and inclusiveness.”

A month later, Badenoch voted against the smoking ban at the second reading in the House of Commons, post on X at the time: “The principle of equality before the law is a fundamental principle… We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, while people born one day apart will have permanently different rights.”

Two Conservative MPs, including Badenoch’s closest political aide, also attended a lunch and drinks reception organized by smoking lobby group Forest, days before the Tobacco Bill was effectively shelved.

At the Beat the Ban event at the Boisdale restaurant in Belgravia, London, beer mats depicting Sunak as a nanny were on display, an allusion to the fact that the ban was a measure of the ‘nanny state’.

Badenoch’s parliamentary private secretary, Alexander Stafford, was present along with fellow Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell. Among the tobacco lobbyists present were Camacho and Richard Cleary, who left Badenoch’s department to join Imperial in January.

Stafford has said he does not smoke but opposed the ban as “a lover of freedom, a lover of choice and a lover of information.”

He and Rosindell did not return requests for comment.

De Forest chief executive Simon Clark said the organization was not trying to persuade MPs present to oppose the bill, but did set out the group’s position in a speech.

The government also came under pressure from right-wing think tanks funded by the tobacco industry during the consultation process.

In total, there were 307 responses in which the respondent disclosed links to the tobacco industry, including from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the Adam Smith Institute. Both have received funding from JTI, while the IEA has also received funding from Imperial and BAT.

BAT, the owner of Lucky Strike and Rothmans, said: “We are clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way to avoid these risks is by not starting or quitting.

“However, we do not believe that a generational sales ban will have the desired impact, given the serious unintended consequences that are likely to follow, such as difficulty in managing age verification and an increase in illegal trade.”

The Conservative Party did not return requests for comment.