New tobacco bill proposes lifetime smoking ban for British children

A new bill aimed at banning today’s British children from ever legally purchasing cigarettes began its journey through Parliament on Tuesday, marking a significant step in the UK’s anti-smoking efforts.

Known as the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, it seeks to curb smoking-related deaths, which currently account for around 80,000 fatalities each year, by targeting the top preventable cause of death and illness in the country.

The bill also proposes restrictions on smoking and vaping in outdoor areas, including playgrounds and entrances to schools and hospitals. However, a suggested ban on smoking in pub beer gardens was removed following opposition from pub owners, signaling a compromise in the legislation’s broader scope.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the hospitality industry had “taken a real battering in recent years” and it is not “the right time” to ban smoking outside pubs.

The bill also proposes to restrict vape flavors and ban bright vape packaging aimed at children, to combat “a cynical industry that has sought to addict a new generation of children to nicotine,” Streeting said.

It also continues a plan by the previous Conservative government, which was ousted in July’s general election, to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco by one year each year, so that no one born after Jan. 1, 2009 will ever be able to buy cigarettes.

It is currently illegal to sell cigarettes, tobacco products or vapes to people under 18.

If passed – as is likely because of the governing Labour Party’s large majority in Parliament — the bill will give Britain some of the toughest anti-smoking measures in the world.

The government said the bill “breaks the cycle of addiction and paves the way for a smoke-free U.K.”

The number of people who smoke in Britain has declined by two-thirds since the 1970s, but some 6.4 million people — or about 13% of the population — still smoke, according to official figures.

With inputs from agencies.