I am today consulting constituents on the government policy of placing further restrictions on the sales of tobacco products prior to the vote on these in Parliament. I would welcome your thoughts.
The government proposal in their own words:
“Proposed new legislation will make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products ā effectively raising the smoking age by a year each year until it applies to the whole population.
Smoking is the UKās biggest preventable killer ā causing around 1 in 4 cancer deaths and leading to 64,000 deaths per year in England. It puts huge pressure on the NHS, with almost one hospitalĀ admission every minute attributable to smoking and up to 75,000 GP appointments each month taken up by smoking-related illness.
Smoking will not be criminalised, and our phased approach means anyone who can legally buy cigarettes now will not be prevented from doing so in future.”
October 5, 2023
Why not ban living and fun while you’re about it? Perhaps it’s time banning was not the government’s default option and let people decide for themselves.
October 5, 2023
The best possible example of how a Nanny state has gone well beyond absolute control.
What are they going to do next, Regiment our lives completely?
October 5, 2023
Smoking is a killer all smokers know that smoking could kill them, and the people by them” passive smoking” and they still smoke not bothered about other people ,
The tax on cigarettes does not cover the cost to the NHS, but I understand that smoking helps people with bad nerves,
I Think most smokers would welcome help to stop as they are addicted
So any help she be welcomed.
October 5, 2023
I feel this is a very unconservative policy. It is by definition discriminatory based on age and self-contradictory since Rishi himself claims that there is no safe amount of smoking [at any age, by inference]. When it comes to cars, the government has made clear its stance to stop meddling and telling people what to do. With cigarettes the opposite approach is being employed. Let people make their own decisions. This is the conservative and right approach.
October 5, 2023
This silly idea will simply drive the sales of tobacco products more underground.
October 5, 2023
Further to this. Cigarettes are already more expensive here than anywhere else in Europe. About 3 x Italian prices and 2x German.
October 5, 2023
Letās ban cocaine instead! no Really ban it – no cocaine ever to be āfound in the Palace of Westminsterā again. Wonder how many MPs would vote for that!
October 5, 2023
As a taxpayer I resent paying for the NHS treating high numbers of patients with self inflicted ailments arising from behaviour which is known to be detrimental to health – I see the Government’s role as being to make the population aware of the likely medical consequences of such behaviour (eg smoking) and the NHS’s role being to articulate how it will allocate its scarce resources between patients who have indulged in such behaviour and those patients who have not. Individuals can then choose how to behave and understand the potential consequences.
October 5, 2023
“make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products”
This is muddled. To be sold is passive. Is the buyer the guilty party or the seller? The offence must rest on an active verb. To be clear the legislation should make either or both selling or buying tobacco products illegal. Otherwise the man in the dock will say, “It wasn’t me, guv, he sold it to me, he dun it to me” And the judge may agree. So which is the guilty party, the buyer, the seller or both. Make it clear.
October 5, 2023
I would rather get smokers to pay for their NHS treatment. And the same for obese people. Self-inflicted disease should not be treated for free.
October 5, 2023
āSmoking ā¦ā¦ puts great pressure on the NHSā. Another reason to get rid of the NHS. As for the proposal that a portion of the adult population be disallowed from purchasing cigarettes, whilst another portion of the adult population is allowed to purchase cigarettes – an absurd and divisive proposal. Indeed, beyond absurd. Liz Truss is right. Stop banning things. Stop the nanny state government knows best nonsense. Adults can decide for themselves what is best for themselves
October 5, 2023
Ban the sale of tobacco products full stop. I have asthma and can’t breathe near a smoker,
October 5, 2023
How do they know what causes what?
Do we really trust the āscienceā any more?
People have been smoking for centuries.
Some die young and some smoke and drink into their late 90s.
NOBODY knows or understands why.
So ā¦leave us alone!
I do not smokeā¦nor ever have, mainly because my Dad disapproved of women smoking!
October 5, 2023
But surely, smoking will eventually be criminalised, or what is the point of doing what is proposed? And when noone is allowed to buy cigarettes or tobacco, how will that be enforced? Will it be by the same police force who now are unable to prevent drug taking?
It seens to me that all this will achieve is an immense expansion of the illegal drugs industry and all the horror that goes with it.
October 5, 2023
Who will be enforcing the new laws/regulations regarding age related cigarette purchasing? As mentioned who will the onus be put on, the seller, purchaser, supplier? Should we not be putting limits on cigarette manufacturing and imports as well to make them less accessible? Price increases will also help to deter younger people from starting.
October 5, 2023
Sir John, you can’t possibly support this ridiculous idea. This is nuts. It will just fuel a criminal black market, and apart from that the very idea that some adults will be allowed to buy a product and others not, simply on the basis of what day they were born, is absurd. It’s the Nanny State run amok. I’m incredulous that a supposedly Conservative government could be considering this. You must tell Mr Sunak to think again – or possibly to think for the first time in this instance!
October 5, 2023
This may be one of the few ideas proposed that makes some sense. However, unlawful cigarettes may simply join the illegal drugs trade. A further irony is that one day 50-year olds will be having to provide evidence of their old age to demonstrate they are old enough to smoke each time they buy!
October 6, 2023
Sir John. When the government has successfully stopped illegal migration, reduced the tax burden on citizens, and paid down the national debt, I would entertain a balanced discussion on the merits of smoking.
When the government has increased the efficiency of the civil service, provided a reliable base load of energy generation, changed policing to provide protection of citizens against criminals, and changed the NHS to provide a smaller, quicker, better and more cost effective service, then we can talk about banning harmful products.
I would politely suggest your party, and the government have sufficient problems that this should not be a priority consideration for the next 2 decades.
October 11, 2023
This is a mad idea – the police cannot, and in some cases, will not enforce the laws banning drugs so it would be unenforceable. It does not look good for it to be proposed by a Conservative Prime Minister either, Why did he waste his Conference speech on this when he should have been talking about things that people care about – the housing crisis for one.