LONDON (AP) – A bill aimed at banning children in Britain from being legally able to smoke today began moving through parliament on Tuesday.
The tobacco and e-cigarette bill would also ban smoking and e-cigarette smoking in some outdoor spaces, such as playgrounds, schools and hospital entrances. However, a proposed ban on smoking in pub beer gardens was withdrawn after opposition from bar owners.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the hospitality industry had “suffered a real blow in recent years” and it was not “the right time” to ban smoking outside pubs.
The bill also proposes restricting e-cig flavors and banning bright e-cig packaging aimed at children to combat “a cynical industry seeking to addict a new generation of children to nicotine.” Streeting said.
It will also continue the plans of the previous Conservative government, which was overthrown in the July general election, to raise the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes by one year each year, and people born after January 1, 2009 will no longer be able to buy cigarettes. That's what it is. Buying cigarettes legally in the UK.
It is currently illegal to sell cigarettes, tobacco products, or e-cigarettes to people under 18 years of age.
If passed, likely because the ruling Labor party has a majority in parliament, the bill would give Britain the toughest anti-smoking laws in the world.
The government said the bill would “break the cycle of addiction and pave the way for a smoke-free UK”.
Official figures show the number of people smoking in the UK has fallen by two-thirds since the 1970s, but around 6.4 million people, or around 13% of the population, still smoke.
Authorities say smoking kills around 80,000 people a year in the UK and remains the number one preventable cause of death, disability and poor health.
