Labour’s smoking crackdown clears first Commons hurdle as ministers purpose to cease youngsters aged 15 or youthful from EVER shopping for cigarettes – however Tory chief Kemi Badenoch opposes ban championed by Rishi Sunak

Labour‘s smoking crackdown has tonight cleared the first Commons hurdle as ministers aim to stop kids aged 15 or younger from ever buying cigarettes.  

The House of Commons this evening overwhelmingly approved the Tobacco and Vapes Bill at second reading, which was championed by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 

MPs voted 415 to 47, a majority of 368, to approve it.

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch voted against the legislation with a spokesperson for the Conservative Party earlier today saying Labour have made a ‘bad Bill even worse’. 

Tory MPs were given a free vote on the legislation.  

Ms Badenoch voted against the Bill when it was first introduced in April under Mr Sunak’s premiership and voiced concerns that it would give people born a day apart permanently different rights.

Former Foreign Secretary Suella Braverman, and former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith were among the 35 Conservatives to vote against the Bill.

Former Health Secretary Victoria Atkins was one of 23 Conservative MPs to vote in favour. No votes were recorded for 59 Tories. 

It effectively bans young people from ever being able to smoke legally with Health Secretary Wes Streeting saying it will give children and young people the protection they need to ‘avoid a life imprisoned by addiction’.

The legislation was picked up by Labour following the party’s landslide victory at the general election. 

A total of 82 Labour MPs failed to record a vote tonight. 

The Bill faced criticism during its second reading, with Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell arguing that people should be able to make their own choices, and the Liberal Democrats claiming it ‘raises issues of civil liberties’. 

Mr Streeting said the number of children vaping is ‘growing at an alarming rate’ and it is ‘unacceptable’ that vapes are being deliberately targeted at children with flavours like ‘gummy bear and rainbow burst’.

The Bill prevents anyone born after January 1 2009 from legally smoking by gradually raising the age at which tobacco can be bought.

It also restricts sweet vape flavours and will review the packaging of e-cigarettes to reduce their appeal to children and young people.

The legislation includes a total ban on vape advertising and sponsorship, including displays seen by children and young people such as on buses, in cinemas and in shop windows, bringing them in line with current tobacco restrictions.

Disposable vapes will be banned from June 2025 under separate environmental legislation, while the sale of vapes in vending machines and their free distribution will be stopped.

Mr Streeting said: ‘The number of children vaping is growing at an alarming rate and, without urgent intervention, we’re going to have a generation of children with long-term addiction.

‘It is unacceptable that these harmful products are being deliberately targeted at children with brightly coloured packaging and flavours like ‘gummy bear’ and ‘rainbow burst’.

‘The Tobacco and Vapes Bill provides the protection that children and young people need to avoid a life imprisoned by addiction. That’s why it’s so incredibly important it is voted through.’

As part of measures aimed at continuing to support smokers to quit, the Government will provide £70 million for stop smoking services, the Department of Health said.

This is in addition to hospitals being asked to talk about smoking with patients while delivering routine care, ‘making every clinical consultation count’.

Some £10 million is also being given to Trading Standards to crack down on illegal trade.

Opening the second reading debate, Mr Streeting said: ‘This Bill will come down on the vaping industry like a ton of bricks to prevent a new generation of children and young people from getting hooked on nicotine.’

Conservative MP Bob Blackman called for the legislation to go further to include a levy on tobacco companies’ profits to hold them responsible ‘for the blight on our population’s health’.

‘Both of my parents died from smoking-related cancer. My late mother was only 47, and she was a very heavy smoker all her life. I was then left as a 23-year-old with three younger sisters to bring up as a family,’ he said.

‘I don’t want any families in this country to have to go through what our family went through then. So this for me is personal, as well as political.’

The MP for Harrow East, and chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for smoking and health, called for the ‘implementation of a polluter pays tobacco levy on the profits of big tobacco, addressing issues of both market prices and limiting the profitability of the industry’.

Romford MP Mr Rosindell said ‘banning things very rarely works’, adding: ‘Surely we should be promoting the concept of freedom with responsibility and allowing people to make choices about their own lives?’

Responding to the intervention, Mr Streeting said tobacco is ‘uniquely addictive, uniquely harmful’, adding: ‘There is no liberty in addiction. There is no freedom in addiction, and the logical extension of the libertarian argument he puts forward would be the end of the ban on indoor smoking.’

The Liberal Democrats’ health spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: ‘The introduction of a phased smoking ban is problematic and not because Liberal Democrats want to see people smoke themselves into an early grave – far from it – but because it raises issues of practicality and raises issues of civil liberties.’

She warned that the Bill ‘raises the prospect of an ID card, because those people who do choose to start smoking will potentially be forced to carry an ID card or some other form of ID with them for the rest of their lives, and that is a concern for a Liberal Democrat who is strongly opposed to requiring people to carry their ID around with them for various issues of privacy and personal liberty’.

Reform UK MP James McMurdock urged the Government to ‘think very carefully’ about its ‘remit’.

He said: ‘I would just ask everyone in the room to consider what kind of world and country we actually want to live in, one where we could send one of the kids down to the shop, pick something up for us, or one where we literally are forced to police people’s behaviour in parks?

‘And I think we should think very carefully about what our remit is as a Government.’

Earlier in the debate, Mr Streeting told the Commons that the Government ‘will consult on banning smoking outside schools, hospitals and in playgrounds, protecting children and vulnerable people from the harms of second-hand smoke’, as part of the Bill.

He also confirmed the consultation will not be extended to pubs and other outdoor hospitality spaces.

The Bill also includes powers to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco, vape and nicotine products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

New data shows more than a million illicit vapes were seized inland by Trading Standards in 2023-24, a 59pc increase compared with the previous year.

On-the-spot fines of £200 are included for any shopkeepers found to be selling to anyone under age.

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, said ahead of tonight’s vote: ‘If this major piece of legislation is passed, it will accelerate a smoke-free generation and lead to children never being trapped by addiction to cigarettes with lifelong harms to their health.

‘The rising number of children vaping is a significant concern, and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will help prevent marketing vapes to children, which is utterly unacceptable.

‘Smoking results in direct harm across a person’s life course but also causes harms to others around them, including children, pregnant women and the medically vulnerable.

‘Reducing the number of vulnerable people exposed to second-hand smoke, as well as preventing non-smokers taking up vaping is important and will improve the health of the nation.’

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill also gives the Government the powers to extend the indoor smoking ban to outdoor spaces – with children’s playgrounds, outside schools and hospitals all being considered in England, subject to consultation.

These places could also be made vape-free under the proposals.