UK Prime Minister Considering Cig Ban

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering a ban on cigarettes that would effectively ban the next generation from purchasing cigarettes, according to the Guardian.

Sunak has reportedly been looking into measures similar to those put in place in New Zealand, involving steadily increasing the legal smoking age, resulting in those born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, never being able to buy tobacco products.

“At a time when people and businesses are crying out for stability, Rishi Sunak has poured fuel on the Tories’ economic bin fire in a desperate bid to keep Liz Truss and her fellow arsonists happy,” said Keir Starmer, Labour leader, referring to Sunak’s recent backtracking on his net-zero policy and confusion over his education policies.

“Britain has a once-in-a-generation chance to reverse 13 years of decline and get ahead—to bring down people’s bills, create quality jobs and free us from the grip of Putin and over-reliance on China. Rishi Sunak’s weakness now stands between the country and proper national renewal,” Starmer said.

“Smoking is a deadly habit—it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy,” said a government spokesperson about the New Zealand-style smoking ban policy. “We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing 1 million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivize pregnant women to quit and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts.”

“Prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to future generations of adults won’t stop people smoking,” said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest. “It will simply drive the sale of cigarettes underground and into the hands of criminal gangs.

“Treating adults like children by denying them the right to buy cigarettes legally would take the nanny state to another level.

“Smoking rates have been falling for decades,” Clark said. “The idea that any government would prioritize tackling smoking at a time when the country faces far more important challenges at home and abroad is frankly obscene.

“If it’s true that the prime minister wants to introduce some of the world’s toughest anti-smoking measures, denying millions of adults the freedom to choose, it will be a Conservative government in name only.”