Ministers have launched a UK-wide consultation on plans to strip vapes of colourful packaging, curb flavour names and keep products out of sight in shops, as critics warn the move could make vaping look too much like smoking.
The proposals, announced on 10 July, are aimed at reducing the appeal of vapes to children while maintaining access for adult smokers who use them to quit cigarettes.
Under the plans, vapes would be sold in plain white packaging, with restrictions on text colour, imagery, branding and standardised product information.
Vapes devices would also be limited to white, black or grey, with no images, limited branding, no cosmetic lights and screens displaying anything beyond basic safety information, such as battery level.
Flavour names would be restricted to simple, recognisable descriptions, such as “Apple”, while concept names, sensory descriptions and names linked to sweets, desserts, confectionery or alcohol would be banned.
The consultation also proposes restricting vape displays in shops in a similar way to tobacco products, meaning they would be kept out of sight rather than openly displayed.
Health secretary James Murray said the measures were designed to stop products containing nicotine being marketed in ways that attract children.
“The evidence is clear: there are too many young people experimenting with vapes, attracted by the array of flavours, bright colours and marketing displays,” he said.
“We want a healthier future for the next generation, so we must act now to reduce the appeal of addictive vapes to our children.
“Vapes are less harmful than cigarettes and can play an important role in helping adult smokers to quit, but they should never be designed or marketed in ways that tempt children. These proposals are about striking the right balance and I urge everyone to have their say.”
Plain packaging could be extended to more tobacco products
The consultation also sets out plans to extend plain packaging and health warnings beyond cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco to all tobacco products, including cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco, shisha tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, heated tobacco and blunts.
Cigarette papers, herbal smoking products and heated tobacco devices would be brought into the proposed standardised packaging regime.
Ministers are considering quit-themed pack inserts, which would direct smokers to support and resources to help them stop smoking. These would apply across tobacco products, herbal smoking products and heated tobacco devices, but not cigarette papers because of their size.
Display rules for tobacco products could be widened too, including by removing the current exemption for bulk tobacconists, duty-free shops and airports. Heated tobacco devices would be restricted to a drab brown colour, in line with tobacco packaging.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks. No immediate legal changes are being made, with regulations to be developed after responses have been analysed.
Rules must not deter adult smokers from switching
The government has framed the proposals around concerns over youth vaping, citing Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) figures showing that around one million 11 to 17-year-olds in Great Britain reported trying vaping in 2025.
ASH’s latest youth vaping survey says 19 per cent of 11 to 17-year-olds had tried vaping in 2026, while six per cent currently vape. The charity says the rise in youth vaping appears to have plateaued since 2023, although levels of experimentation remain a concern.
The consultation also lands at a sensitive moment for smoking policy. The NHS says vaping is less harmful than smoking and exposes users to fewer toxins and at lower levels than cigarettes, while Cancer Research UK says legal vapes are far less harmful than smoking and can help people stop smoking.
That creates a difficult balance for ministers. Measures designed to make vapes less visible and less appealing to children could also make them look more like tobacco products, at a time when ASH’s latest adult vaping data shows 52 per cent of adults who smoke believe vaping is as harmful as, or more harmful than, smoking.
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of ASH, said regulation needed to avoid undermining the role of vaping as a smoking cessation tool.
“Protecting children from harmful vape marketing is the right thing to do. Attractive, colourful branding and images have driven the appeal of vapes to children leading to an increase in use.
“At the same time there is a careful balance to strike with regulations. While vapes are not harm free, they are significantly less harmful than smoking and vapes have helped millions of people successfully stop smoking in recent years.
“The task now is to thread the needle of making vaping less appealing to children without making it less effective for adults who want to quit smoking. Get that balance wrong, and we risk slowing progress against smoking, the leading cause of preventable death.”
Dr Ian Walker, executive director of policy and information at Cancer Research UK, also said vapes must remain available to smokers.
“Evidence so far shows that legal vapes are far less harmful than tobacco, but we still don’t know their long-term impact, so it’s absolutely right that the UK Government is taking steps to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to young people and those who have never smoked,” he said.
“As vapes are an effective cessation tool, any new regulation must make sure they are still accessible to people trying to stop smoking. Tobacco remains the biggest cause of cancer in the UK, so we’re also pleased to see plans to extend plain packaging to all tobacco products, which is proven to help shield children from a deadly addiction.”
Vape sector warns rules could backfire
The vaping industry warned that the measures could make regulated vapes look too similar to cigarettes and worsen public confusion about the relative risks of vaping and smoking.
John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said: “The UKVIA supports proportionate regulation but these proposals are not the right solution to youth vaping and risk causing serious harm to the government’s own smoke-free ambitions.
“The government’s assertion that bright colours are a principal driver of youth vaping is not supported by the available evidence. Action on Smoking and Health’s (ASH) own research shows that curiosity and peer influence are the leading reasons young people try vaping.
“Among current youth vapers, only 4.9 per cent identified what a vape looks like as the most important factor when choosing a product, compared with 42 per cent who cited taste.
“ASH’s research has also shown, year after year, that growing numbers of smokers wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as, or more harmful than, smoking.
“Putting vapes in plain packaging and forcing retailers to hide them away from view like cigarettes will reinforce this dangerous public misconception and discourage smokers from switching.”
He said packaging, flavour information and responsible retail displays play an important role in helping adult smokers identify and choose products that can support them in moving away from cigarettes.
“A blanket approach that makes regulated vaping products look indistinguishable from tobacco will hand an advantage to the black market, where there are no controls over product safety, packaging or age verification,” he said.
“Vapes and cigarettes are not the same, and public policy must not pretend that they are.”
The UKVIA said the proposals could hand an advantage to the black market, where illegal sellers are not subject to the same product safety, packaging or age-verification rules.
Robert Sidebottom, of Arcus Compliance, said the consultation could have serious consequences for former smokers and responsible vape businesses.
“It is without irony that a government department with ‘health’ in its title is at risk of making one of the most significant health missteps in modern history, which, if implemented, even in part, will drive former smokers back to deadly cigarettes.
“One only needs to look to the success of Sweden and the substantial positive health benefits that alternative nicotine products bring to realise the potential deadly mistake of implementing these nonsensical proposals in this consultation.”
Sam Lundell, of the Swedish Snus Users Associé, said plain packaging risked benefiting larger tobacco-owned brands while reducing practical choice for consumers.
He said: “I see this as a proposal that benefits Big Tobacco but makes things worse for consumers. When all cans look the same, consumers will have to rely on the brands they already recognize, which are the established brands owned by Big Tobacco. This reduces the range of choices available to consumers in practice.
“This is a policy that treats all nicotine products as if they were cigarettes, and that is a mistake. Sweden’s experience shows that when adult smokers have access to attractive smoke-free alternatives, smoking rates fall.
“Plain packaging for nicotine pouches is a symbolic measure that risks sending the wrong message: that all nicotine products carry the same level of harm. They do not.”
He said a recent opinion poll by the Swedish Snus Users Association found 58 per cent of the Swedish public opposed plain packaging, rising to 80 per cent among consumers of snus and nicotine pouches.
Long-time consumer advocate Martin Cullip said they were “yet another move in the UK government’s policy of death by a thousand cuts towards vaping”.
He said: “The proposals are billed as making vapes less attractive to children, but that is just a smokescreen. Be in no doubt, this will scare thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of adult smokers away from switching.”
Part of wider tobacco and vape reforms
The consultation follows the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April. The Act includes the UK’s generational tobacco sales ban, which will make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
The plain-packaging consultation is part of a wider package of measures aimed at youth vaping and tobacco control. A ban on single-use vapes came into force on 1 June 2025. A new Vaping Products Duty is due to begin on 1 October 2026, followed by bans on vape vending machine sales and free distribution from 29 October 2026. Vape advertising and sponsorship are due to end from 1 June 2027.
Medicinally licensed nicotine products are exempt from the consultation proposals and remain covered by separate legislation.
