Phased smoking ban is the ‘most significant health intervention’
The Health Secretary has said a phased smoking ban is the ‘most significant health intervention’ in a generation.
Wes Streeting said this after his Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed its first Commons hurdle by 415 votes to 47 – unsurprisingly, as this was a plan of the former Conservative government that Labour has taken up.
Still, given a free vote on it, 35 Tories were against the Bill including leader Kemi Badenoch and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, while 23 supported it. Seven Liberal Democrats and four Reform MPs also opposed it.
Apparently there is a concern about the Bill’s impact on civil liberties.
Tory shadow health secretary Edward Argar raised concerns about new powers for ministers to make it illegal to smoke in specific outdoor spaces, which were not in the previous bill proposed by the Conservatives. He said he was concerned a ban could be expanded to more outdoor spaces in the future.
Helen Morgan, for the Liberal Democrats, said people who chose to start smoking would potentially have to carry an ID card for the rest of their lives, something she “strongly opposed” due to “issues of privacy and personal liberty”.
Tory Andrew Rosindell suggested that Parliament should be “promoting the concept of freedom with responsibility and allowing people to make choices about their own lives”.
But Streeting warned that “there is no freedom in addiction”.
He said gradually raising the age at which people can buy and use tobacco (so nobody who is currently 15 will ever be allowed to use it legally in the UK) will create a “smoke-free generation and eventually a smoke-free nation”, adding up to “the most significant public health intervention in a generation”.
The bill would help shift the focus of healthcare “from treatment to prevention” and reduce pressures on the NHS, he said.
“Smokers are more likely to need NHS services, be admitted to hospital, drop out of the workforce and on to welfare, and need social care years earlier than if they didn’t smoke,” he added.
The Bill also bans vape advertising and sponsorship, and restricts the flavours and packaging of vapes in order to reduce their appeal to children.
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yes but around ten or so years back they were taking in 14.6 billions in taxes on tobacco while the NHS was getting 9.5 billion now their taxes had covered the monies NHS was getting hmm now whot in taxes does our government take has a hand rolling is around forty or so quid they be short in taxes now and some think-tank will get us to pay that hole left by smokers