A Member of Parliament (MP) in the UK has quietly put forward an amendment to the new smoking ban to include vapes.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will make it illegal for anyone born after 1 January 2009 from ever legally being sold cigarettes or other tobacco products.
The Bill includes measures to crack down on youth vaping, but does not currently include vapes in the outright ban on smoking for future generations.
However, Labour MP Rachael Maskell has added a proposed amendment to the document that would make it illegal for anyone born after 1 January 2015 (six years after the smoking ban limit) to ever buy a vape.
She suggests an addition to the Bill that says: “The Secretary of State may by regulations prevent the sale of to anyone born after 1 January 2015—
(a) vaping products; or (b) nicotine products.”
It adds that regulations should include an exemption for nicotine products that are prescribed by a medical professional.
The explanation that Maskell, MP for York Central, gives on the Bill reads: “This new clause would allow the Secretary of State, by regulations, to prevent the sale of vaping and nicotine products to anyone born after 1 January 2015 after having laid before Parliament an individual evaluation report on the health impact of doing so.”
Vaping advocates have taken to social media to express their outrage at the suggested amendment, which Maskell has not announced publicly on her website or social media accounts.
They say the move would fuel the black market for unregulated vapes and take away personal choice.
Pro-vaping blogger Christopher Snowdon says: “The final destination is the total prohibition of nicotine. In the long run, the aim is to make it a controlled substance and fully drag nicotine into the war on drugs.”
On X, Richard Wingfield, Chair of the Southwark Liberal Democrats, says: “Policymakers should know better than to rush to ban everything that carries a degree of risk. It’s not just the nicotine ban proposed here, but recent calls from MPs to ban smartphones from teenagers, and drivers under 25 from having passengers. It’s so infantalising.”
Rebecca Jones, Liberal Democrat candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington adds: “I await the Labour Party banning people born after 2010 from going outside in the sun due to the risk of skin cancer.”
And Dr James Martin, Course Director of Criminology at Deakin College in Australia writes: “This is such a terrible policy, will be unenforceable and further fuel an already booming black market. Come to Australia and see how our failed prescription model is stoking tobacco turf wars (4 new firebombings over this last weekend alone).”
Clearing the Air approached Maskell’s office for further explanation of the proposed amendment, but had no response.
What happens now?
The Bill is currently in the ‘committee stage,’ where it goes under detailed examination.
Read the full list of proposed amendments here.
Once the committee stage is finished, the Bill returns to the House of Commons for its report stage, where the amended Bill can be debated and further amendments proposed.
