Rishi Sunak’s flagship smoking ban bill passes first hurdle despite cabinet opposition

39 comments

1. > Mr Sunak wants to raise the legal age to buy cigarettes annually in a bid to phase out the habit, as well as restrict the sales of vaping products.

   I really welcome this. I see too many young teens smoking (disposable) vapes. I don’t get the appeal to them. I would go one step further and fund studies to find the dangers of vaping, especially if you don’t smoke cigarettes.

2. Not only is this the best news I’ve heard from this government since Truss left office, it will make a substantial difference to lives of many. Genuinely a piece of news to celebrate

3. Ridiculous law, can’t believe I’m agreeing with Liz fucking Truss

4. The only thing of note of his that’s got somewhere (even if it is the first hurdle). Impressive.

   It’ll be interesting to see how this works in practice. It’ll either make people turn to the black market or do very little, seeing as there are barely any police or anyone in an official capacity to control or police the issue.

   It needs tackling, but there needs to be some teeth and bite behind it, otherwise it’s needless gesturing, which seems to be all the government does these days. Acknowledge an issue, legislate, but not regulate or action.

5. while there’s more logic behind the prohibition of tobacco than there is of most drugs, i still feel like fundamentally we should err on the side of civil liberties with regards to this sort of thing

6. An unworkable, irrational, illiberal, discriminatory law, no wonder it’s achieving bipartisan support in British Parliament

7. At least when we’re all poor in our old age we can make a living popping into Asda buying cigarettes for 40 year olds.

8. One thing I notice is that younger circles, like on Reddit and on my campus, overwhelmingly oppose this. But if you check out the comments on the BBC, it’s beloved by boomers and gen x types.

   This is the future, old bureaucrats restricting our personal freedoms and pleasures of fellow adults ‘for their own good’. The number of people who support this authoritarian shit is depressing.

9. I really don’t think this massive black market will rise up – certainly perhaps to an extent but cigarettes fucking stink – it isn’t exactly an attractive vice and that’s why young people have jumped all over vapes already (flavours, smells better, potency). Now, there would deff be a black market for vapes.

10. We should be forcing smokers to use private healthcare for smoking related illness not banning smoking

11. Eastern European lads will make a fortune.

    There are no border checks because brexit fucked it all up and you won’t be able to ever catch up. Ciggies are £3-4 in continental Europe, so imagine the business.

12. How many of you who support this ban are fat? That is the obvious health crisis facing this country and one not covered by taxes on food and drink.

13. I remember at the beginning of the 2000s feeling like a cross party consensus was emerging that what adults chose to do with their bodies, or other consenting adults was none of the state’s business, I honestly thought we weren’t far off drug decriminalisation or even legalisation. The last 5 years or so that’s absolutely gone backwards and we are in a new age of puritanism and authoritarianism.

14. I am anti-smoking, but even I think this bill has got it wrong.

15. As much as i hate the current government, i support this bill and hope it passes the lords. Cigarettes are deadly, and if we can deter people from it, it will have a positive effect on the UK.

16. The Germans have some lovely compound words. Have they got one for a politician who is out of ideas?

17. The black market theory is a funny one.

    Just a reminder that the biggest reduction in smoking we’ve seen came from increasing the age from 16 to 18

    That’s because smoking isn’t like alcohol or recreational drugs. People are going to parties to smoke a rollie and get wild.

    If tobacco is hard to get, the want to have it reduces massively because it’s just not that good. No one wants to pay over the top prices for crappy backi from she sketchy guy so they can smoke a rollie behind the bike shed at school.

18. the end of your individual freedoms are closer than you think. next is the cashless society so they can control what , where and when you spend your money on. Are they going to ban people buying burgers or biscuits or only being able to buy booze mps have shares in? what right do a bunch of corrupt inbred leeches have to make life style choices for people while they carry on drinking, smoking and shoving their snouts in the trough.

19. Smoking is ridiculous, it’s literally inhaling smoke and there are no advantages, only disadvantages. This is like a societal upgrade and the NHS will benefit.

    Although, easy for me to say as someone with no interest in smoking.

20. First bit of mettle he’s shown since being randomly selected as BoJo’s chancellor (precisely *because* he does as he is told)

21. Now call the election, no one wants this. This will just push cigarettes to the black market. Nanny State nonsense

22. Man, I try to like millennials and then you side with the boomers every time it comes to stripping Gen Z and Alpha of their rights. I get your hearts are in the right place, but it just feels like a modern temperance movement mixed with age discrimination. Also tthis effectively kicks weed legalisation wayyyyy down the line because very few people smoke weed pure.

    Glad i wont be affected by this law

23. Clearly Mr sunak hasn’t heard of the fucking prohibition

24. Nannying cunts.

    I don’t smoke, I don’t like cigarettes, but fuck right off you pathetic authoritarian twats.

25. The trouble is soon as you make something illegal people will want it more, and the import of dodgy cigs could increase. Plus kids get hold of cigarettes anyway, you see them smoking outside shops

    Just look at other drugs that are illegal. People that want it know how to get it

26. Tobacco companies are smarter than the government. They’ll find the tiniest loophole in this legislation and exploit it.

27. It’s not really flagship when he is just copying New Zealand’s homework xD Toried are doomed and they know it so putting on a facade like they finally learned to care

28. As I’ve said before: every year more and more American states are legalising marijuana.

    Here in modern, liberal Britain forget about legalising cannabis, we’re gonna “ban” smoking.

29. Of course Labour’s authoritarian Max Headroom lookalike leader would back this bill…

30. Interesting to see that all the weak-minded authoritarian types are out in force on this one.

    Imagine cheering on a law that applies to some people but not for others. But then I’m not surprised. If the Government suggested segregation and apartheid between Muslims and non-Muslims I’m sure that many people would be out cheering that too.

31. Black market will explode, pay no tax and unless coppers (who are under staffed) go round IDing adults smoking then this will be useless.
    Already get a pack of cigs for £5 from the pound shop.

32. Hopefully common sense will happen in the lords. By that time the wee tiny tory will be toast. Fingers crossed 🤞

33. Kinda shows how he isn’t the leader the Tory party wants. Since his own cabinet was against this policy.

34. Never thought I’d live to see the Tories become in favour of the Nanny State 🤣

35. This really is a stupid authoritarian and utterly unworkable idea for a law.

36. It’s crazy to see the support this has, and had in NZ under the whole “benevolent forward thinking leader”.

    Ridiculous we’re stripping personal freedoms like this

37. I support this, smoking is a nasty disgusting habit, I remember when smoking was allowed indoors, it was sickening, and progressively we’ve phased out freedom for smokers, now phasing it out for a new generation is a step in the right direction.

38. Interesting how they expect someone in a shop to know the difference between a 20 year old who can buy fags and a 19 year old who can’t. I assume they’ll require some sort of ID card, which is exactly what they tried to bring g in years ago and got told to F off. Convenient that the solution appears to be exactly what they wanted

39. The thing I’m constantly seeing misunderstood about this is that it’s designed to kill the *demand* for smoking, rather than simply telling existing smokers “no you can’t”, which is what people are reacting to when they say bans don’t work and that it will only spawn a black market.

    Of *course* banning something makes a teenager want to do it more. Of *course* there will be 18-year-olds in 2028 getting their 19-year-old mates to buy them cigarettes. But think about it. When a baby born today becomes a young adult, the only people freely smoking will be *fifteen years* older than they are. How much peer pressure do you think that will place on them, really? How cool do you think smoking will look to them, really? How many people are they likely to hang out with who might offer them one? Now think about babies born five, ten years from now and ask the same questions. You already don’t see cigarettes advertised anywhere, and they are hidden behind shutters in shops. Where is the exposure going to come from that would prompt young adults of the future to take up smoking?

    A rarity in modern democracies, this is a long-term strategy that will reap benefits long after the current government has left office and will unambiguously improve the health of the population, without – and this is the crucial part – forcing anyone to change their existing habits.