(Bloomberg) -- The UK will publish landmark legislation to phase out the sale of tobacco products to create the first “smoke-free generation,” with the draft law also toughened to include a smoking ban in some outdoor spaces.
The Tobacco and Vapes bill, which will include a ban on smoking in children’s playgrounds and outside schools and hospitals, as well as vape advertising and sponsorship, and will be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday, the government said. A ban on the sale of tobacco products will apply to children aged 15 or younger from this year, it said, and the law will also restrict the flavors and packaging of vapes to make them less desirable for young people.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government has chosen to bolster a plan originally proposed by Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak, who said the UK would increase the legal age for buying cigarettes by one year annually — effectively banning sales entirely over time. The idea was dropped when he called an election, which the Tories lost, and the new government pledged to revive it in the King’s Speech setting out its legislative agenda in July.
Disposable vapes will also be banned from June 2025 under separate legislation, the government said.
“Unless we act to help people stay healthy, the rising tide of ill-health in our society threatens to overwhelm and bankrupt our NHS,” Health Secretary Wes Streeting said in the statement. “Prevention is better than cure.”
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