A 14-year-old in England will never be able to smoke legally under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposals.
The proposed law, which must be voted on by parliament, will increase the age for legal purchase of cigarettes annually from the current 18 years by an additional year every twelve months.
This will see Britain following in the footsteps of New Zealand, which last year effectively made the sale of cigarettes illegal for people born after 2009.
The Prime Minister also announced a crackdown on vaping among children, promising a look at the flavors, packaging and disposable devices that are encouraging children to take up the habit.
A 14-year-old in England will never be able to smoke legally under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposals
Announcing these steps during his speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Sunak acknowledged it had been a difficult decision to back the policy.
But he added that it was the right decision for the country’s children to “break the cycle” of smoking addiction.
“If we want to do the right thing for our children, we should try to prevent teenagers from using cigarettes in the first place,” he said.
‘Four in five smokers have started by the time they are in their 20s, later the vast majority try to quit but fail because they are addicted.
‘I propose that we increase the smoking age by one year every year. “That means a 14-year-old today will never be legally sold a cigarette, meaning they and their generation will grow up smoke-free,” he said to loud applause from the audience.
Mr Sunak’s announcement comes after a major review last year led by Dr Javed Khan, who backed England and followed in New Zealand’s footsteps.
Dr. Khan recommended “raising the retail age by one year every year from 18 until no one can buy a tobacco product in this country.”
In his government-commissioned report in June 2022, Dr. Khan said that without urgent action, Britain would miss the 2030 target by at least seven years, while the poorest areas would not meet this target until 2044.
He estimated the annual cost of smoking to society at around £17 billion – £2.4 billion for the NHS alone.
The legal age for purchasing cigarettes and other tobacco products in England and Wales is 18, after the previous Labor government raised this age from 16 in 2007.
Mr Sunak said the vote on the proposal to gradually raise the age for purchasing cigarettes would be free in the House of Commons, making it a ‘matter of conscience’ for MPs.
“For a conservative, measures that limit choice are never easy, and I know not everyone in this room will agree with me on this,” he said.
But he added: ‘What ultimately got me to this point is that none of us, even those who smoke, want our children to grow up to be smokers.
“This will save more lives than any other decision we could make.”
The Prime Minister also said the rise of vaping among children is in the government’s sights.
“We must act before it becomes endemic, so we will also propose measures to limit the availability of vapes for our children, looking at flavors, packaging and disposable vapes,” he said.