ASH Comment on King’s Speech announcement about the Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Immediate release: Wednesday 17th July 2024
In today’s King’s Speech the Government announced that reintroduction of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill was an early priority for the Government in the forthcoming session.
Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said:
“Today’s announcement puts us in pole position to be the first country in the world to end smoking. Smoking puts pressure on our NHS and social care system, but the greatest financial impact is the damage to our economy due to lost productivity. The measures announced today will play a major role in helping government achieve its ambition to halve the difference in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions, and deliver productivity growth in every part of the country.”
Phasing out the sale of tobacco is supported by more than two thirds of adults (69%) [1] and 11-15 year olds (67%)[2] who will be the first generation to whom the sale of tobacco will forever be banned. The majority of the population in every constituency in Great Britain supports the legislation, with the highest level of support (74%) in the Prime Minister’s constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.[2]
An open letter to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State calling for the legislation to be reintroduced without delay was signed by over 1,400 people including doctors, academics, healthcare workers and public health professionals. See quotes from signatories below in response to today’s announcement.
Mum of three Sue Mountain, 59, from South Shields, began smoking aged 11. She underwent laser treatment at age 48 after a biopsy revealed she had laryngeal cancer in 2012. The cancer then returned in 2015 and then again in 2017. Sue said:
“I don’t want people in the future to go through the worry, the pain, the guilt and the loss of income I went through with smoking and cancer. It is appalling to think 160 families every day are devastated because of tobacco companies selling their lethal products – it is time for change. Our NHS is struggling and the amount of people getting cancer because of tobacco is adding to this. This is why I am delighted that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be a priority for this government. It will be wonderful for me to think my grandchildren will hopefully grow up into a world where smoking has become a thing of the past ”.
Professor Steve Turner, RCPCH President said:
“This is a major milestone towards realising the government’s ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history. Stopping children and young people from starting to smoke will decrease their chance of developing preventable disease later in life. As paediatricians, we work day in and day out to support children’s health; we are clear that children should not become addicted to nicotine and youth vaping must be tackled. We now need MPs from across the new parliament to use the historic opportunity before them to support this bill when introduced and help protect our children’s and nations’ long-term health.”
Greg Fell, President of the Association of Directors of Public Health said:
“Phasing out smoking will save thousands of lives, help protect the next generation from ever becoming addicted to this lethal product and do more to narrow the unacceptably large gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions than any other single measure.”
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, said:
“Smoking continues to devastate the nation’s health, taking at least 15,000 lives in the UK every year due to cardiovascular disease alone. Today's announcement will help to save countless lives and we urge the Government to reintroduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to Parliament without delay.”
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive Officer of Age UK, said:
“Age UK works to improve the health and wellbeing of current and future generations of older people and the legislation will benefit everyone by phasing out the sale of tobacco and helping adult smokers to quit. As people age sustaining their health and wellbeing becomes vital to ensure they are to be able to do the things they want to do in later life. Even in their 60s, 70s, or beyond and however long or heavily they have smoked, smokers who quit will benefit from improvements in their mental and physical health and wellbeing. Phasing out smoking will increase healthy life expectancy in both current and future generations of older people.”
Mark Rowland, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation said:
“Phasing out the sale of tobacco will be a major step in protecting the public’s mental health and could do more to benefit the physical and mental health of psychiatric patients than any other single measure. Smoking increases your risk of poor mental health and you are much more likely to start smoking and to become heavily addicted if you already have a mental health condition. The more addicted you are, the harder it is to quit, even though successful quitting is associated with reduced levels of anxiety and depression.”
Professor Linda Bauld, OBE, Director of the SPECTRUM public health research consortium said:
“The UK is ideally placed to be the first country to phase out smoking forever, with the strong support of all the devolved nations. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will also ensure our governments also have the powers they need to curb youth vaping while ensuring nicotine vapes remain accessible to adults so people who smoke have access to the most effective quitting aid. We have a world class academic community carrying out cutting-edge research on tobacco and vaping. Our research teams can monitor the impact of the legislation once implemented and ensure that any changes needed to improve the impact of the legislation can be identified and put in place in a timely manner.”
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance said:
“The smokefree generation proposal has huge support from the North East, and especially the public. Too many families have lost their loved ones because they became addicted when young to lethal tobacco. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us all to unite and say yes, we should and will see an ultimate end to smoking and how amazing that will be for our future generations.”
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
Action on Smoking and Health is a health charity working to eliminate the harm caused by tobacco use. For more information see: ash.org.uk. ASH receives funding for its programme of work from Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.
Contact: press@ash.org.uk. Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive, and Hazel Cheeseman, Deputy Chief Executive, are available for media interviews.
[1] Smokefree GB 2024 poll by YouGov Plc for ASH. Total sample size was 13266 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 29th February and 18th March 2024.. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
Question used: The Government has announced legislation to raise the age of sale for tobacco for those born in 2009 or later by one year, every year, so it will never be legal to sell them tobacco. To what extent, if at all, would you support or oppose this measure?
Questions about support for policy in the 2024 ASH/YouGov poll were preceded by a question asking people: Were you aware that 2 out of 3 long-term smokers will die of smoking-related illnesses? This may have influenced some people’s responses and resulted in a higher level of support. The level of support found in the 2024 poll is, however, similar to the support found in other surveys including ASH/ YouGov Nov 2023 67% support, The Times/ YouGov September 2023 70%)
[2] Smokefree GB Youth survey 2024. Total sample size was 2,872 young people aged 11-18. There were 1,644 young people aged 11-15. Fieldwork was undertaken between 21st March and 23rd
April 2024. The survey was carried out online by YouGov. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB young people aged 11-15.
2024 Question: The Government has announced legislation to raise the age of sale for tobacco for those born in 2009 or later by one year, every year, so it will never be legal to sell them tobacco. To what extent, if at all, would you support or oppose this measure?
[3] YouGov MRP (multi-level modelling and post-stratification) model, using data collected for the 2024 Smokefree GB poll for ASH (see above) to calculate support by parliamentary constituencies in place for the general election in July. These are estimates based on modelling. Fieldwork was undertaken between 29th February and 18th March 2024.
Constituency breakdowns available from ASH at: https://ashresources.shinyapps.io/mrp_constituencies/