New Zealand has lifted its world’s first smoking ban, aimed at discouraging children from taking up the habit.
The move to fund tax cuts comes just weeks after Rishi Sunak officially unveiled his bold plan to quit smoking in the UK.
New Zealand legislation, introduced under the previous government of Jacinda Ardern, would have banned the sale of cigarettes next year to anyone born after 2008.
Under Sunak’s flagship proposal, which he described as the “biggest public health intervention in a generation”, anyone born after 2009 will be banned from ever buying cigarettes.
If passed, the minimum age for purchasing tobacco would be raised by one year each year, putting legal smoking out of reach for anyone under 14 today.
New Zealand’s new Conservative government has scrapped world-first plans to ban future generations of New Zealanders from buying cigarettes (archive image)
Christopher Luxon was sworn in as New Zealand’s prime minister on Monday. Luxon said the cigarette ban would “create an opportunity for the emergence of a black market that would be largely tax-free.”
Charities and experts have called on politicians to bring the bill into law quickly and not allow vested interests to derail the goal of making Britain “smoke-free”.
But conservative think tanks branded Sunak’s plan an attack on people’s freedoms and warned that the ban – a replica of New Zealand’s ban – would only drive future smokers into the arms of the black market.
An expert has warned that Sunak’s push for a smoke-free generation could still be going up in smoke.
Richard Murray, chief executive of health and care think tank The King’s Fund, said: “Passing the smoking ban bill would be an important milestone and the government should then have the courage to implement the smoking ban quickly.”
“Disappointingly, we have recently seen other measures to protect people from disease, such as banning junk food advertising to combat obesity, being passed into law but then delayed in implementation.”
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in New Zealand and health experts have spoken out against the sudden U-turn.
Anti-smoking group Health Coalition Aotearoa – the Maori name for New Zealand – said the political withdrawal was an insult to the country.
“This is a huge loss for public health and a huge gain for the tobacco industry, whose profits are increased at the expense of the lives of Kiwis,” the group said in a statement.
Christopher Luxon was sworn in as New Zealand’s prime minister on Monday and said his top priority was improving the economy.
The 53-year-old former businessman leads a conservative coalition after his National Party reached an agreement with two smaller parties on Friday following a general election last month.
Luxon said the cigarette ban would “create an opportunity for the emergence of a black market that would be largely tax-free.”
The law, passed in 2022, was praised around the world and included measures such as reducing the nicotine content in cigarettes and limiting the number of tobacco outlets.
Modeling showed that up to 5,000 lives could have been saved each year by smoking ban laws.
Under Sunak’s flagship proposal, which he described as the “biggest public health intervention in a generation”, anyone born after 2009 will be banned from ever buying cigarettes (file photo).
However, owners of newsagents and corner shops criticized the loss of revenue due to the Smokefree measures, even taking into account government subsidies.
The National Party did not discuss smoking ban laws during the election campaign.
The announcement that the government would repeal the laws was made on Saturday by new Finance Minister Nicola Willis.
Willis said the other parties in the coalition – the libertarian ACT and the populist New Zealand First – had been “persistent” in pushing for the U-turn.
Despite the election victory, the center-right National party has been fighting for weeks in political negotiations to form a government with the two smaller parties.
The deal to form a government with the two small parties was only agreed six weeks after the election, on Friday, and the government was sworn in on Monday.
New Zealand First was the only party to campaign for the repeal of smoking laws.