{"id":39515,"date":"2026-07-09T23:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=39515"},"modified":"2026-07-10T06:32:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T06:32:39","slug":"uk-plans-plain-packaging-for-vapes-in-child-marketing-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/uk-plans-plain-packaging-for-vapes-in-child-marketing-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"UK plans plain packaging for vapes in child marketing crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the plans, vapes would be sold in plain white packaging, with restrictions on text colour, imagery, branding and standardised product information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flavour names would be restricted to simple, recognisable descriptions, such as \u201cApple\u201d, while concept names, sensory descriptions and names linked to sweets, desserts, confectionery or alcohol would be banned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health secretary James Murray said the measures were designed to stop products containing nicotine being marketed in ways that attract children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe evidence is clear: there are too many young people experimenting with vapes, attracted by the array of flavours, bright colours and marketing displays,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want a healthier future for the next generation, so we must act now to reduce the appeal of addictive vapes to our children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVapes 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plain packaging could be extended to more tobacco products<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cigarette papers, herbal smoking products and heated tobacco devices would be brought into the proposed standardised packaging regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consultation will run for 12 weeks. No immediate legal changes are being made, with regulations to be developed after responses have been analysed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules must not deter adult smokers from switching<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASH\u2019s latest youth vaping survey<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consultation also lands at a sensitive moment for smoking policy. The NHS<\/a> says vaping is less harmful than smoking and exposes users to fewer toxins and at lower levels than cigarettes, while Cancer Research UK<\/a> says legal vapes are far less harmful than smoking and can help people stop smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s latest adult vaping data<\/a> shows 52 per cent of adults who smoke believe vaping is as harmful as, or more harmful than, smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of ASH, said regulation needed to avoid undermining the role of vaping as a smoking cessation tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProtecting 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Ian Walker, executive director of policy and information at Cancer Research UK, also said vapes must remain available to smokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvidence so far shows that legal vapes are far less harmful than tobacco, but we still don\u2019t know their long-term impact, so it\u2019s 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs 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\u2019re also pleased to see plans to extend plain packaging to all tobacco products, which is proven to help shield children from a deadly addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vape sector warns rules could backfire<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said: \u201cThe UKVIA supports proportionate regulation but these proposals are not the right solution to youth vaping and risk causing serious harm to the government\u2019s own smoke-free ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe government\u2019s assertion that bright colours are a principal driver of youth vaping is not supported by the available evidence. Action on Smoking and Health\u2019s (ASH) own research shows that curiosity and peer influence are the leading reasons young people try vaping.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmong 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cASH\u2019s research has also shown, year after year, that growing numbers of smokers wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as, or more harmful than, smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPutting 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cVapes and cigarettes are not the same, and public policy must not pretend that they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Sidebottom, of Arcus Compliance, said the consultation could have serious consequences for former smokers and responsible vape businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is without irony that a government department with \u2018health\u2019 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Lundell, of the Swedish Snus Users Associ\u00e9, said plain packaging risked benefiting larger tobacco-owned brands while reducing practical choice for consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a policy that treats all nicotine products as if they were cigarettes, and that is a mistake. Sweden\u2019s experience shows that when adult smokers have access to attractive smoke-free alternatives, smoking rates fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPlain 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-time consumer advocate Martin Cullip said they were \u201cyet another move in the UK government\u2019s policy of death by a thousand cuts towards vaping\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He said: \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Part of wider tobacco and vape reforms<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The consultation follows the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026<\/a>, which received Royal Assent on 29 April. The Act includes the UK\u2019s generational tobacco sales ban, which will make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> came into force on 1 June 2025. A new Vaping Products Duty<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicinally licensed nicotine products are exempt from the consultation proposals and remain covered by separate legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

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