The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has gained a lot of publicity. In this blog, we look at the changes it is proposing, the impact these are likely to have (particularly on young people), and when it is likely to be in place.
The Bill is ambitious in its aims, which are to introduce measures to stop people born from 2009 onwards from ever starting smoking (and therefore becoming addicted to tobacco products), to reduce youth vaping, and to protect against future harms of other forms of nicotine addiction by strengthening controls on products such as nicotine pouches (which currently fall into a regulatory loophole). While there are nuances for different home countries, the Bill will broadly apply across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Stopping anyone currently 14 or younger from ever being able to legally smoke may seem extreme – and nowhere else in the world has done it – but given that tobacco has been the single leading cause of preventable deaths and illness in the UK for decades, it makes sense from a public health point of view. And such measures work: in 2007 when the UK raised the age of smoking from 16 to 18, smoking rates in 16-17 year olds fell by nearly a third, and of the 6.4million people in the UK who currently, smoke, over 80 per cent of them started before age 20.
What about lost tax revenue from tobacco sales? This is a non-argument, given that excise duty raises just over £10 billion a year, while the total costs of smoking are estimated to be over £17billion (£3billion of which is spent on NHS and social care, and £14billion on lost productivity). These figures are for England, but are similar across the other UK home countries.
Vaping has long been a thorny issue, as it has a clear place in helping people stop smoking, and the risks are considerably less than those of inhaling the product of burning tobacco. But what has become evident is the explosion in the number of young people – including never smokers – who vape, with this age group more likely to experience harms, both in terms of health effects but also nicotine addiction.
With this in mind, the Bill will restrict the flavours, flavour descriptions, packaging and displays of vapes, and ban free samples to under 18s. Manufacturers of nicotine-free vapes and other nicotine-containing products (such as pouches) will also be subject to the same regulations as nicotine vapes, and penalties for underage sales will become harsher, including the introduction of a 12 month sales ban for repeat offenders – and significant funds are being ringfenced for enforcement.
There is evidence that restricting vapes could lead to an increase in smoking rates among young people, but provision has been made to mitigate this unintended consequence in the form of plans for national awareness campaigns, and allocated funding for stop smoking services, as well as the smoking ban for young people.
There is a way to go before this substantial piece of legislation becomes reality. At the time of writing, the Bill had been introduced to the House of Commons – a formal process that takes place with no debate – and was due for consideration by MPs in mid-April. It will then go through various other stages before returning to the House of Commons for a third reading, and then goes to the House of Lord’s for the same process. Only once it is passed there will consideration be given to any amendments, before it is given Royal Assent and becomes law on January 1st, 2027. The Bill’s progress can be tracked here.
Anyone wanting to get into the detail of the proposals may want to read the Explanatory Notes to the Bill, and the Impact Assessment. The policy paper titled “Tobacco and Vapes Bill: smokefree generation factsheet” is an interesting read – including an explanation of why the smoking age wasn’t increased to 21 as many had thought would be the next logical step – as is an explainer on the measures that will be implemented for vapes and other nicotine products.
