E-liquid manufacturer Riot Labs delivered a life-sized replica of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Westminster in an attempt to get vaping legislation back on the agenda for the new Labour government.
Ex Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tried to bring in some of the world’s strictest anti-smoking rules and wanted to ban disposable vapes, ban flavors and ban branding, which Riot Labs said would be “a disaster for the vape sector and the millions of adult smokers trying to quit cigarettes.”
Rishi’s plan failed to become law before he called an election, but Labour recently expressing its commitment to the generational tobacco ban.
A recent study conducted by One Poll and commissioned by the U.K. Vaping Industry Association found 83 percent of surveyed vapers say flavored vapes helped them ‘pack in their smoking habit’. It also found one in three respondents (an estimated 1.5 million vapers) believes a ban on flavors would lead them back to conventional cigarettes.
The Royal College of Physicians too has warned against a wholesale limiting of flavors accessible to adults, arguing that “The use of flavors by adults trying to quit smoking is an integral part of the effectiveness of vaping as a quit aid.”
“This year has been a tumultuous one for the vape sector, with the government trying—and ultimately failing—to rush through unjustified new vaping laws which would have been dangerous for millions of adult smokers trying to quit” said Riot Labs CEO Ben Johnson.
“The reality of Sunak’s vaping legislation is giving people less choice, less value and ultimately less reasons to quit smoking at all. Now Labour’s in power, smoking and vaping policy will be back on the lengthy to-do list and we’ll be taking the fight to policymakers to stand-up for the vape sector.”
The Boris stunt comes a month after Riot Labs and Right Vape, Northampton vape shop, took aim at the vaping legislation with the opening of the “The Flavourless Vape shop.” Opened by Rishi Sunak lookalike Sanju, the launch of the shop took an unexpected turn when “Rishi Sunak” was egged by an angry member of the public who mistook him for the real prime minister.
“We are massively in favor of laws to tackle youth vaping, such as a fully funded license scheme for retailers, but we strongly disagree on the government’s approach to a flavor ban,” said Ben Johnson.