The United Kingdom’s legislature has approved a new bill banning people born on or after January 1, 2009, from buying tobacco for their whole lives.
According to media reports, the legislation is part of a years-long effort to create a smoke-free generation.
“This is a historic moment for the nation’s health as the Tobacco and Vapes Bill ends its journey through Parliament,” said Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting. He believed that the legislation would save lives, ease pressure on the NHS, and build a healthier Britain.
“Children in the UK will be part of the first smoke-free generation, protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm,” he stated.
The bill will become law when it receives a royal assent next week. Once it does, ministers will also have new powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging. They will also be able to ban nicotine products from being branded and advertised to children.
Vaping will also be prohibited in playgrounds, cars with children inside, outside schools and hospitals, in an effort to expand smoke-free zones across the UK.
The smoking ban was first introduced in 2023 by the then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, as he planned to raise the legal age for buying tobacco by a year every year, so that eventually no one could buy tobacco. The plan was put aside before the 2024 general election, and later revived by the Labour government.
According to reports, smoking leads to 400,000 hospital admissions and 64,000 deaths a year in England alone and costs the National Health Service (NHS) 3 billion pounds (about $4bn) in treatments for tobacco-related illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease.
