British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday his intention to extend the ban on the sale of cigarettes so that the United Kingdom can gradually become a tobacco-free country.
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“I propose that in the future we raise the (legal) smoking age by one year every year,” said the conservative head of government in a speech at his party conference in Manchester (northern England). “That means that a 14-year-old can never legally be sold a cigarette today,” he said, speaking of a “generation without tobacco.”
Currently, the legal minimum age to buy cigarettes in the UK is 18.
But “four out of five smokers started smoking before the age of 20,” said Rishi Sunak. “We have to try to stop young people from starting to smoke.”
“This could help almost completely eliminate smoking among young people by 2040,” a Downing Street statement said.
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the UK, the statement said. It is the cause of about one in four cancer deaths. The resulting costs, particularly for the health system, “amount to £17 billion” each year, i.e. almost €20 billion.
“Smoking will not be criminalized and our progressive approach means that anyone who can legally buy cigarettes today will not be prevented from doing so in the future,” Downing Street said.
If these measures are taken, the UK will follow the example of New Zealand, which is gradually introducing a near-total tobacco ban by indefinitely preventing people born after 2008 from buying cigarettes and “by reducing the amount of nicotine in the available products.”
The British government also announced a consultation on e-cigarettes on Wednesday to limit its appeal and access to young people.
“Use of e-cigarettes among young people has tripled in the last three years,” says Downing Street. “We must act before the phenomenon becomes endemic.”