Smoke-free UK

Thursday 15th October 2026 Westminster Hall

15:10

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con) [R]]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered progress towards a smokefree UK.

It is a pleasure to serve again under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz, and to open the debate. This is a vital topic, and one I am proud to have campaigned on for many years—probably more than I care to remember. I declare an interest as co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health. Since I was elected, it has been tremendous to see the progress we have made on combating smoking and, indeed, increasing the health of the population generally.

Last week, new smoking prevalence data showed that, for the first time, less than 10% of the UK population smoke. We are worlds away from the 1970s, when almost half the population smoked. We certainly do not want to go back to that position. However, there is still some way to go, and this debate is an important reminder that the job is not done. Although we are making excellent progress, including with the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 earlier this year, we should not say that the job is done.

Smoking remains one of the leading causes of premature death and disability in the UK. It is responsible for around 80,000 deaths every year. Cancer Research UK says smoking is responsible for around 160 cancer cases every day, or 57,700 cases each year. Tobacco is a uniquely harmful product. It can kill up to two thirds of lifelong users and is responsible for at least 16 types of cancer.

The impact goes beyond health. Around one in nine working-age adults in England who smoke are out of work because of ill health or disability. That is around 700,000 people. The NHS continues to feel the pressure, with around 100 GP appointments every hour linked to smoking-related illness. In fact, the total cost of smoking to society and the economy in England alone is estimated at £44.8 billion a year.

Smoking is still a huge problem, but it is one that it is within the Government’s power to fix. Cessation services, mass media campaigns and changes to the age of sale are all tools that can be used to achieve a smoke-free country.

This Government have shown admirable ambition in bringing back the smoke-free generation policy originally proposed by my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak). I and many others worked so hard behind the scenes to get that policy on the radar—in fact, I am still waiting for his thanks for the speech I made in this Chamber before he announced the policy at party conference.

That policy is transformative when it comes to stopping young people starting the habit, saving them from a lifetime of addiction and ill health. However, it does not do much for the 4.9 million people who currently continue to smoke. The previous Government had a clear plan to end smoking, which expired in 2022, but also a national smoking prevalence target of 5% by 2030. Even with recent progress, it is unlikely that that target will be met.

Concerningly, we are seeing more young people take up smoking and particularly vaping. The Teachers’ Union Behaviour in Schools survey found that 16% of pupils vaped during class—I find that hard to believe. It found that 62% of pupils repeatedly left lessons to vape, and that 39% of teachers had encountered pupils unable to concentrate because they were distracted or affected by nicotine, although I suspect the figure is actually even higher. It also found that 32% of teachers had observed peer pressure on non-vapers to vape. Schools have an important role in educating children and young people about the risks of smoking and nicotine use, preventing use on school premises and supporting children who need help. However, schools cannot be expected to solve a wider public health and regulatory problem.

When asked if Smokefree 2030 is still the Government’s target, various Ministers have responded by saying that the Government are “going even further” by creating a smoke-free generation. With respect, the previous Government also legislated for a smoke-free generation while having a target for current smokers to quit. Cancer Research UK has already found that England is not on track to become smoke-free by 2030, and smoking rates remain much higher in more deprived communities.

The Government must go further and faster or set a new target and publish a clear road map for reaching it. Can the Minister tell us what her ambitions are for reducing smoking and whether she will look at introducing a target for reducing smoking to not just 5% but below 1% in all communities across the UK? We need an ambition for current smokers that matches the ambition for the smoke-free generation of “Stopping the start”.

Targets can be a helpful tool for focusing attention on a particular area of importance. We have seen that through the truly remarkable success in reducing smoking rates among pregnant women—something I have campaigned for a long time. The last Government just about achieved the objective, and smoking pregnancy rates are now at their lowest rate ever, at just 4.2%, down from 9.6% in 2020. That means that more than 70 babies’ lives have been saved through preventing stillbirths caused by smoking during pregnancy. We are currently in Baby Loss Awareness Week, which demonstrates the importance of this issue.

Once again, the previous Government set a clear national target, designed targeted policies, including financial incentives, and integrated them into existing pathways—and it worked. I am so pleased that this Government have committed to continue funding financial incentives for pregnant women, but I also want us to learn lessons from that success. What we have achieved with pregnant women can be a blueprint for other at-risk populations. I hope the Minister will meet the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health, as well as Action on Smoking and Health, to discuss how this approach can be applied to other at-risk groups as a road map to a smoke-free country.

I was really pleased that £5 million in financial incentives for pregnant women have been maintained for the next three years. That investment, alongside the £153 million for local authorities through the public health grant and funding from ICBs, means that more money is being invested in cessation support than ever before. However, ICB budgets are no longer being ringfenced, which means there is a risk that services are decommissioned, as we have seen in parts of the country, or see their funding reduced in NHS settings.

The Labour manifesto pledged to introduce opt-out cessation support in all in-patient settings. Can the Minister clarify what progress has been made on that manifesto pledge in this Parliament? Is the funding going to the NHS enough to deliver on that pledge? Has her Department been monitoring potential reductions in services due to ICB reductions? Will she ensure that cessation funds within the public health grant continue to be protected by ringfence?

Of course, there are broader activities, beyond cessation support, that reduce smoking rates. Mass media campaigns are one important part of the puzzle, and it would be good to hear how much is being spent on them. I would also like to hear from the Minister what plans she has to communicate the smoke-free generation to the public via a media campaign. Those are clear ways of reaching all sorts of people.

The good news is that we can be ambitious. We have at our fingertips a source of funding that is as yet untapped: a levy on the tobacco manufacturers, which would raise an estimated £5 billion over five years. The model that the APPG put forward would not allow that to be passed on to consumers. It is something of a unicorn policy, in that it raises revenue and is hugely popular with the public. Around 76% of adults in England support a levy, and the proposal enjoys majority support from voters from all political parties, with only 7% opposed.

The Prime Minister has indicated that he wants to review business rates to raise revenue from businesses that

“do not make a positive contribution to…communities.”

If that is the case, big tobacco should be first in line. It is right that those responsible for the huge costs of smoking to our society, our NHS and our population’s health are the ones picking up the bill, not the taxpayer. I hope the Minister will seriously consider this proposal and suggest it to the Chancellor for his Budget in a couple of weeks’ time.

We must all be careful to call out the continuing interference by the tobacco industry in today’s world, particularly in politics. British American Tobacco sponsored Reform’s party conference, where its “inconvenience store” was plastered with a series of “shocking” mock health warnings. Reform’s party leadership have made it very clear that they support big tobacco being able to continue to sell lethal products to the next generation of children. They are completely out of touch with the public, but also with their own voters, who overwhelmingly support ending the devastating harms of tobacco in this country.

To be clear, there has always been a strong level of cross-party support on issues such as tobacco control and reducing smoking rates, as the Leader of the Opposition’s conference speech showed, and that should continue, both for health and due to the economic costs. It is disappointing that some parties in particular reject that and are all too willing to listen when money gets thrown around.

We have to remember that at the heart of this issue there are still 4.9 million smokers. They are our friends, family and colleagues, and many are absolutely desperate to quit but stuck in a steady cycle of addiction. Our all-party group was recently delighted to host a roundtable with the APPG on poverty and inequality to discuss the links between smoking and deprivation. My friend and co-chair, the hon. Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy), will share some of the discussion in her speech, but I want to reflect on how impactful it was to hear from those with lived experience. We heard from an ex-smoker, a mother, that her addiction to tobacco was so strong that she would buy cigarettes before buying food for her children. Tobacco came before everything. That cannot be acceptable in today’s society. We also heard from Dr Liam Loftus, who is delivering smoking-cessation support at Cambridge city food bank. He is not waiting for smokers to find him but going to where they are already seeking support and being proactive.

A road map—a clear plan—could help us to learn from pockets of best practice and to scale up interventions that truly turn the dial on smoking rates in this country. I look forward to hearing the contributions from colleagues and, indeed, from the Front Benchers, and I trust that we can continue to work towards eliminating smoking in this country.

15:22

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab) [R]]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I am so pleased to speak in this debate and to have secured it alongside my APPG co-chair, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). As co-chairs of the APPG on smoking and health, we will always champion cross-party support for ending the epidemic in the UK.

This debate is about what progress has been made towards a smoke-free country and what more we could do. I want to start by recognising just how much we have achieved in the last five years alone, thanks to the actions of both the previous Government and the current one. The Tobacco and Vapes Act became law. Smoking rates have fallen to below 10% across the UK for the first time ever, and rates are falling fastest among 18 to 24-year-olds.

The rate of smoking in pregnancy is at a record low of just 4.2%, saving babies’ lives and supporting families to have the best start in life. Record levels of funding are going to stop-smoking services. Co-ordinated action among agencies also means that, despite claims to the contrary from the tobacco industry, official data continues to show that robust enforcement is controlling the UK illicit market.

I am particularly proud that smoking rates in the north-east of England have fallen by a staggering 67% since 2005—the largest drop in England. That is great to see, not just for my constituents in the City of Durham but for communities right across the north-east, an area with some of the worst health inequalities in the UK. Much of that success can be attributed to the regional leadership and support of Fresh. The experience of the north-east clearly shows the huge benefits of establishing expert-led, regional tobacco control programmes to support local areas, as we have had in the north-east over the last 22 years. I am sure that all regions would benefit from this approach. There was a time when smoking rates below 10% in the region would have been unthinkable—a pipe dream—but in our mission to end smoking we have achieved many unthinkable things, and we have never stopped pushing for progress.

However, we have not called this debate to pat ourselves on the back and think it is job done—far from it. As we have heard, there are still 4.9 million smokers across the UK, and smoking is increasingly becoming an issue of health inequality. The inequality is stark: if current trends continue, people with a degree will reach smoking rates of less than 1%, while people with no qualifications are not expected to reach that same milestone until 29 years later. That gap should concern us all, because it shows that progress is not being felt equally across society.

I was pleased recently to bring together stakeholders, on behalf of the APPGs on smoking and health and on poverty and inequality, to host a roundtable on the link between smoking and poverty. Smoking is a well-known health issue, but it is also a direct driver of poverty. It is a preventable contributor to the cost of living crisis for millions of people experiencing tobacco addiction. Smoking pushes 417,000 households below the poverty line. Last year, one in four people who smoke went hungry after skipping meals, and people who smoke are nearly three times as likely to use food banks.

The roundtable included some insightful discussions about how we can make support for smoking cessation available in food banks and other community settings— reaching people where they already are and making it easier for them to access support. Moving forward, opt-out support must be the way we work. It would be great to hear from the Minister what progress has been made on the manifesto commitment on opt-out support in routine care.

At the event, I was pleased to hear from Gillian and Hannah, who came to share their lived experience and spoke to us so openly. As the hon. Member for Harrow East alluded to, hearing someone say that they would buy cigarettes before buying food for their children, and that they only ever managed to take their children on holiday once they quit, shows how cessation can give not only freedom from addiction, but financial freedom too.

The good news is that there is something we can do about it. Smoking is not inevitable. Tobacco addiction can be broken with the right support. That is why it is so important for the Government to publish a road map to a smoke-free country that sets out how we can target support to the right people and build on examples of best practice.

We also need a new target. Smokefree 2030 is very unlikely to be met, and a less than 5% prevalence still leaves millions smoking. This Labour Government should be bold and set a date by which we will pledge to see smoking rates below 1% in all groups across society. We can introduce a levy on industry profits to fund programmes to support smokers and still have cash to spare.

We can also use the powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Act to ensure that all tobacco products are comprehensively regulated and to take a balanced approach to vapes and other nicotine products. We need to ensure that a variety of cessation aids, such as medication and vapes, are available to smokers to help them on their quit journey. The recent Cochrane review confirmed the effectiveness of vapes in supporting quitting, and we must not forget that, on average, it takes 30 attempts to quit.

The regulation of vaping products is necessary to reduce their youth appeal, and the Government are right to be pulling multiple levers to achieve that aim, including a crackdown on rogue sellers through new planning powers for councils, the incoming licensing and registration scheme, and the vaping products duty, which came into effect at the start of this month. A road map that situates vaping policy as part of a wider strategy on smoking and public health would help to enhance this long-overdue regulatory agenda. However, it is a complex area; has the Minister considered convening an expert group of some kind?

This Government will be remembered as the Government who signalled the beginning of the end for smoking with the smoke-free generation, but we could be the ones to end smoking for good. I look forward to hearing from the Minister and to working with her to ensure that we do just that.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

Order. We can get everyone in if everyone sticks to about five to six minutes. There is possibly a vote or two at 4 o’clock.

15:30

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank the hon. Members for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) for introducing the debate. Both their contributions set the scene incredibly well on an issue that concerns the health of people across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The information published by the Library ahead of the debate reminded us that the Conservative party published a Green Paper on this topic in 2019 and that the Labour party has committed to the smoke-free by 2030 ambition. The major political parties and all of us in this Chamber want the same thing: to achieve a smoke-free UK. The introduction of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 has made possible what is hoped to be a smoke-free generation, by prohibiting the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. That will undoubtedly contribute to the continuing decline in the number of adult smokers.

I only ever had a cigarette once. I tell the story because I was only about six years old. You know the way, when you are small, you look at your granda? He was not a big man, but he was my hero because he was my granda. Granda smoked the cigarettes. They were Gallaher’s, and I do not think there was any filter on them. I looked at my granda and said, “Granda, you’re always smoking cigarettes—can I have one?” My granda says, “Yes, you can. Take that there and then take a really deep breath.” And I did—with no filter. Those of a certain generation will remember whenever the po was under the bed; well, I went green and I was violently sick into the po. I always remember that introduction, from my granda—that was a cigarette. Never, ever have I wished to smoke a cigarette, all my life. The Government do not have to worry about me; it will never happen. Nor, I am glad to say, did it happen to any of my children. That is a story with, perhaps, a poignancy—a reminder of what it was like years ago.

In 2024, those aged 45 to 54 had the highest proportion of current smokers, at 12.4% UK-wide. Many of that age group are addicted beyond their control, and deterrence measures alone are likely to be a bigger challenge and potentially less successful. The hon. Member for Harrow East referred to the mother—it is not a condemnation; it is a fact—who would buy a cigarette before getting food on the table. We must recognise that smoking is a serious addiction and acknowledge that many in that age group began smoking without fully understanding the long-term health consequences. Our focus must extend beyond prevention. We must advocate for accessible addiction treatment and practical support for those who want to quit smoking but are struggling to do so.

I understand that the consultation on the tobacco and vapes regulations ended on 2 October. Will the Minister give us some indication of the timescale for the release of the responses to the consultation, and the timescale to take action on those responses? I should have welcomed the Minister to her place; it is always a pleasure to see her and we wish her well in her role.

It was estimated that in 2024 smoking contributed to 15% of all deaths in Northern Ireland, and the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses was estimated at £218 million annually. Those figures are worrying. They indicate that if we achieve a smoke-free United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it will clearly reduce the financial impacts on the NHS. The same report reflected UK-wide concerns regarding young people vaping, estimating that in Northern Ireland alone 9% of 11 to 16-year-olds use e-cigarettes. Although e-cigarettes may help some adult smokers to move away from tobacco, it is increasingly the case that young people who have never smoked are becoming addicted to vaping. There is a real need to address that in the Government’s consultation on vaping.

I call on the Government to take further action to reduce the appeal of e-cigarettes to children by introducing controls on flavouring and advertising. Alongside stronger enforcement against the illegal sale of e-cigarettes to those under 18, that will contribute to a smoke-free United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which will ease pressure on our already burdened health service and ensure that the next generation—the ones who come after us—will grow up free from the harms that we have seen smoking cause.

15:35

[Mary Glindon (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and to my previous role as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for responsible vaping. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) and the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on securing this debate, and on their hard work and commitment to ensure that we move towards a smoke-free UK.

Throughout the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, I have been a strong advocate for vaping, because giving smokers choice in how to stop smoking is far more successful than telling them they should stop altogether. Giving smokers a safer way to stop is a choice worth protecting.

The goal of a smoke-free UK is worth backing. The Act ensures young people will avoid ever falling into the trap of addiction. It is now on the statute book, and the test for its success is its delivery. Rules only work if they are enforced on our high streets, not just written on paper, and the biggest threat to this goal is the illicit market.

Illicit tobacco and vapes are untested and untracked, with no age checks and no control on what is in them. The adult who wants the ability to choose an alternative to cigarettes cannot know what they are buying and, even worse, children can get hold of these products. Responsible retailers, including specialist vape shops, are undercut by rogue traders who face no meaningful consequences. The stakes could not be higher. Only last Tuesday, Lord Bichard, chair of National Trading Standards, told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee that the illegal tobacco trade is directly funding child abuse. That shocks us, and should shock every Member of this House. We can no longer treat this as a sideline issue. It should be the focus of Government attention and the sequencing of Government priorities matters. We must protect our good retailers before we come for their products. The alternative will only tighten the grip that organised crime has on our high streets.

The NHS says that nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking, and that it is one of the most effective tools for quitting. Smokers using nicotine vapes are roughly twice as likely to quit as those used in traditional non-nicotine replacement products such as patches or gum. Around 5.5 million adults vape in this country, including around 3.3 million former smokers. Some 52% of adult smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is harmful or more harmful than smoking. Vaping is not harmless, but smoking and vaping are not equivalent. The Government must ensure that communication and regulation maintain that distinction and protect the right for vapes to be sold and to be more appealing to adult smokers than cigarettes.

Specialist vape shops are fundamentally different from corner shops, petrol stations and rogue retailers that simply sell vapes alongside other goods. Just as a petrol station selling alcohol is not a specialist alcohol retailer, these businesses should not be regulated as if they were the same. Doing that is pointless and harmful to the responsible industry while rogue retailers continue to sell illegal products to our children.

No retailer should sell vape products to a child. There should be rigorous age verification in shops and online, supported by Challenge 25 trained staff, refusal registers, reliable digital checks and regular test purchasing, rather than sweeping restrictions for responsible retailers.

Parliament has already legislated for a retail licensing scheme. A scheme that separates good retailers from bad is the most effective way to take dangerous illicit products off our streets. It gives councils the ability to identify who is selling these products and act against repeat offenders. But the Government have said that the consultation on licensing scheme will be considered “in due course”. Our high streets cannot afford for the issue to be kicked down the road. My constituents want to know when the consultation will be open, and they want it to be as soon as possible. That is my message to our Minister.

A comprehensive retail and distributor licensing scheme is essential, and the UK Vaping Industry Association has produced a framework called the UKVIA licensing framework. A licence would identify who is selling vaping products, set minimum standards and make repeat offenders lose the right to trade. The UKVIA has proposed penalties of up to £10,000 for retailers selling to children or supplying illicit and non-compliant products, with the proceeds used to strengthen trading standards’ enforcement.

Nearly 390,000 illicit or non-compliant products were identified through research covering 17 councils, but the reported fines for vape offences totalled only £10,700. Small penalties risk becoming a cost of doing business rather than a genuine deterrent. The message should be simple: comply with age verification, product and licensing rules or face penalties of up to £10,000, licence suspension and, for persistent offenders, removal from the market. Only once we have got to grips with illicit trade should we turn to packaging, appearance and display. If rogue traders ignore the rules we have, tougher new ones will be ignored, too, and it is honest retailers and adults who simply want a legal, safe alternative to cigarettes who will suffer.

We all want fewer people smoking, but the fastest way to get there is by backing the legal market—backing adults who are trying to quit and going after the criminals who profit from the illicit trade. We must not make cigarettes comparatively more attractive. The new vaping products duty is charged at £2.20 per 10 ml of vaping liquid. The Government say that vaping remains less harmful than smoking and helps adult smokers to quit, but the new duty risks undermining that objective.

A new report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates that the duty could increase average vape prices by 44% compared with an estimated 4% increase in cigarette prices. Its central model suggests that 946,000 vapers and dual users could move exclusively to smoking, resulting in 1.5 billion additional cigarettes being consumed each year. The same modelling estimates an additional £300 million a year in healthcare and productivity costs, comprising £94 million in healthcare costs and £211 million in lost productivity. Those are modelled outcomes rather than certain forecasts, but they present a serious warning about unintended consequences.

The Government should monitor smoking relapse and quitting rates and illicit market activity closely, and be prepared to revisit the duty if it is pushing adults back towards cigarettes. We can protect children and non-smokers without punishing adults who have quit smoking. Make age verification non-negotiable. Introduce effective licensing and impose penalties of up to £10,000 on rogue retailers while preserving vaping as a vital quitting tool for adult smokers, and help us move towards a smoke-free UK.

15:43

[Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) for securing this important debate.

I will start by declaring a lifelong professional interest in this vital issue. As a physiotherapist for more than 30 years, I have seen at first hand the effect of smoking on initiating and exacerbating things such as asthma and chronic obstructive airways disease. Passive smoking will hopefully decelerate now, but people who have never smoked do get lung cancer as a result. I am extremely passionate about the importance of smoking cessation to public health, and the critical role that physiotherapists can play in supporting such interventions.

As we have already heard from the hon. Members who opened the debate, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the UK, killing an estimated 80,000 people every year, including almost 4,000 people in Wales. One in every 10 deaths in Wales among those over the age of 35 continues to be as a result of smoking. Although that is profound for the families of the people who have died, it also has a major impact on our NHS. Public Health Wales estimates that every year in Wales more than 17,000 hospital admissions are attributable to smoking, and smoking-related costs to the Welsh NHS and social care system are estimated at over £650 million a year. That is for a country with a population of about 3 million, so Members can see just how expensive the problem is. However, the full estimated costs are so much greater, because smoking remains a major drag on productivity and our environment.

As we have also heard today already, the costs of smoking are not borne equally; individuals from deprived backgrounds are the worst affected and smoking is a persistent driver of health inequalities. Consequently, smoking cessation must be understood as a social justice issue. Almost a quarter of adults in the most deprived communities in Wales smoke, a figure that is four times higher than that for the least deprived areas. As we have already heard clearly today, that is not fair; it is a social justice issue.

No Government who are committed to social justice, whether they are in Cardiff Bay or Westminster, can ignore this problem. I am therefore very pleased that the UK Labour Government are leading the way internationally through the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026. That landmark piece of legislation will see the UK deliver the world’s first smoke-free generation, ensuring that today’s children will be protected from the cycle of addiction and disadvantage that has plagued our communities for decades.

Another major achievement of the Act was to take major steps to combat the challenges of youth vaping and to protect future generations from the risks of nicotine addiction. I will concentrate mainly on vaping from now on, because although vaping is an important means of smoking cessation, I remain concerned about the number of people, especially children, who are vaping and consuming nicotine without ever having been smokers. Earlier this year, the Office for National Statistics confirmed that over a million people across England, Scotland and Wales are in that category, and the figure has doubled since 2021. Overall, the number of people using vapes and e-cigarettes daily or occasionally has quickly overtaken the number of people who smoke, and the number continues to rise, especially among young people, even while smoking rates decline.

Public health analysis from last year found that 5% of children between year 7 and year 11 reported vaping at least weekly, with the proportion for year 11s rising to 13%. Similar fieldwork undertaken by ASH Wales in 2023 found that 92% of secondary school-aged vapers were using products containing nicotine and that almost half of them could not go through the whole school day without vaping. Moreover, 55% of the vaping products being used were identified as being highly likely to be illegal.

These patterns are extremely concerning, and we need to go further and faster to bear down on the illegal and immoral parts of this industry that is preying on our young people. Last month, I was pleased to be able to host a roundtable here in Parliament to consider how the provisions of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 can be further strengthened to bear down on those trends. Attendees noted that, as we have heard, there is a wide spectrum of vape shops, ranging from corner shops to specialist retailers. There is a considerable discrepancy between the two ends of the spectrum. Currently, customers should be able to expect clear and consistent retail standards, with a focus on smoking cessation at their heart. I ask the Minister to outline what steps she is taking to level up retail standards for vape shops so that customers know what to expect.

At that roundtable, we also discussed imported vape products, particularly the high-capacity “big puff” devices. They should be held to the same standard as vape products manufactured in the UK. Consequently, will the Minister say what conversations she has had with the Treasury to ensure that our UK Border Force and local trading standards teams are effectively resourced to perform effective spot-checks at the borders and in retail establishments? The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency also needs to be sufficiently financed to provide effective safety assurances. Proposals by the Government to regulate the appearance or operation of physical shops will have limited effect if unsafe or non-compliant products can still enter the market through online sales, direct imports or other routes.

I could go on and on, but I dare not, because I am conscious of time. We need to get a grip on this problem and I look forward to the Minister answering my questions.

15:49

[Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)]

It is an honour, Ms Vaz, to serve under your chairmanship.

Like colleagues, I thank the co-chairs of the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy), for their excellent introductions to the debate. They superbly put across the points about the impact of smoking, and the importance of our ambition for a smoke-free generation and a smoke-free country.

Like many other Members, I approach this debate with my personal perspective of smoking and my experience of growing up in a smoking household. Most of my family have smoked at various points, some of them for quite a long time—my mother did for more than 40 years. Smoking was always present in my childhood and adolescence, so my rebellion was to not smoke. That was probably a good, rebellious side to have, compared with the other options available.

Based on my experience and what I saw around me, I was an anti-smoker from day one. I saw the power of addiction and how difficult it was for so many of my family members, including my mother, to quit smoking, despite their best efforts and despite knowing that it was the right thing to do and that it was harming them, those around them and even their children. Smoking is incredible in its power to keep people addicted.

My grandfather, who was a smoker for much of his life, passed away from lung cancer and my mum, who is fortunately still with us, has suffered from various forms of cancer throughout her life, potentially caused by smoking, among other issues. I am passionate that we must do all we can and continue to be a leader in smoking cessation.

We know the evidence; it is clear. We have had clear marketing campaigns. We have had the horrific images on the front of cigarette packets for some time, but people have almost become numb to them and turn away from them. The power of those things alone is not enough to get us to where we want to be. Personal responsibility arguments are often used by people with libertarian or far-right perspectives—Reform UK has been mentioned today—but we know that is not enough.

Throughout the historical crusade to end smoking, public health measures have proved the doubters wrong time and again. The ONS data shows that we have achieved the historic milestone of falling below 10% prevalence; for the first time, fewer than one in 10 people in the UK smokes. We have to recognise that, positively, for some time, this has largely been a cross-party mission. The right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), when he was Prime Minister, led the campaign and proposed ambitious legislation. But there is a risk we will see that cross-party consensus evaporate. Reform UK’s relationship with big tobacco has already been mentioned. Unfortunately, both that party and the Opposition have had free votes on this issue, and it has not been possible to get a consensus on the legislation.

I hope that changes, because we all know the difference it can make. Within 20 minutes of stopping smoking, blood pressure resumes to normal levels, and within eight hours, nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood reduce by half and oxygen returns to normal. Within two to 12 weeks, circulation improves; in three to nine months, coughing and wheezing problems fade and lung function increases by 10%; in five years, the risk of having a heart attack falls to about half compared with a person who is still smoking; and in 10 years, the risk of lung cancer falls to half of that of a smoker and the risk of a heart attacks falls to the same level as someone who has never smoked. Those powerful figures show it is never too late to stop smoking and see the health benefits.

We have to sustain the progress we have made. The last 10% of people smoking are fundamentally harder and more expensive to reach than the first 10%. As has been said, there is also a social justice element to this campaign; it goes beyond finance and public health. ASH data shows that smoking has pushed just under half a million households into poverty, including 137,000 children. I have seen in my constituency that those in that last 10% often have complex lives; they may experience deprivation, mental health issues, and drug and alcohol issues alongside smoking. We need targeted and specific outreach to support those people to quit smoking.

I have met the fantastic women who run the Hillingdon stop smoking service. They have talked passionately about the work they do to provide incentives, support, nicotine products, vapes and other alternatives that are now on the market. However, that outreach is ever more expensive the closer we get to eliminating smoking in this country.

In the limited time I have left, let me make a pitch to the Minister. We should look to reinvest tobacco duty revenue directly into stop smoking services. I support the calls that have been made for a specific levy on the profits of tobacco companies that is targeted and reinvested into stop smoking services. The public health case and the economic case are clear, and I hope the moral case is clear. We have to do more. We have to become the first country in the world to become smoke-free.

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

I will begin calling the Front Benchers at 4 pm. It looks like the votes are coming at 4.30 pm, so we could well be finished before then.

15:55

[Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I commend the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) for securing this timely and important debate about progress towards a smoke-free Britain. I also welcome the Minister to her place, and declare an interest as the chair of the responsible vaping APPG.

I made the daft decision at a slightly older age than the unique exposure that the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) had to pick up a cigarette at a party when I was 16. I have managed to progress to a point relatively early in life where I am no longer a smoker, but that was due to the availability of alternatives, not because I had the willpower to overcome the strong addiction to nicotine that quickly took hold after that juvenile mistake.

When we talk about ending smoking and addiction, we need to talk about how to enable effective off-ramps for those who are addicted to nicotine. It was great when I visited one of the specialist retailers on Falkirk high street, VPZ, that they had a carbon monoxide test, which checks how much carbon monoxide is in someone’s lungs. The level in mine has returned to relatively normal, but many of my constituents with preventable smoking illnesses face substantially worse outcomes because they have not been given that effective off-ramp in their quit journey. In this debate, I am thinking about those who are suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, heart failure and all other types of preventable illness. Diminishing that harm must continue to be our focus as we seek to sustain the progress that has enabled a significant fall in smoking rates.

There is no other legal product sold that does the same amount of damage as tobacco. I wholly support the Government’s Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, which introduced a generational ban that will cut off those who turn 18 from January from ever being added to the 4.9 million smokers in our country. In the short time I have, I want to focus on the simple argument that, in seeking to achieve a smoke-free Britain, we should not prematurely regulate out of existence any of the tools that help combat tobacco smoking.

Occasionally, rhetoric on this topic has drawn an equivalence between vaping and smoking, because we are rightly concerned in this country about youth uptake of any nicotine products. Although I agree with that instinct, I must warn against the march towards an arbitrary equivalence of regulation between tobacco and vapes. We know from the data that the vast majority of vape use is among ex-smokers and current smokers, with 33.8% of current smokers and 20.7% of ex-smokers vaping daily or occasionally, compared with only 2.9% of those who have never smoked.

We also know from established public health data that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking, yet—in no small part, I believe, due to the moralistic tone of the debate that emerged around vaping—around 90% of smokers still do not know that vaping is substantially less harmful for them. If we were to fully ban flavour or significantly restrict its availability as a result of the Government consultation on vaping flavours, which has closed, we may inadvertently limit the effectiveness of our most effective smoking cessation tool. ASH data indicates that 14% of ex-smoking adult vapers would return to smoking if flavours were restricted, and over 70% of vapers say that flavour variety helps them quit and, most crucially, sustain their efforts to quit. I would appreciate an update from the Minister on how the Government’s response to the consultation will retain the right balance by permitting flavours, as vaping is a quit aid.

I welcome the fact that the consultation is distinct from the question of packaging, display and appearance; far too much of the debate on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill focused on the appearance and names of vapes rather than the value of flavours to smokers who are seeking to quit. We have tacitly acknowledged that vapes are important in ensuring a smoke-free Britain; we can see the success of the “swap to stop” scheme. Overzealousness in curtailing the variety of products that are available to those seeking to access those services may undercut the sustainability and viability of that effort.

With my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon), I sponsored an amendment to the Bill that would have introduced age-gating technology into vapes, which I think could be a helpful tool for the Minister. It would have practically addressed Members’ concerns about youth vaping while retaining the benefits for smoking cessation. As the technology is achieving more mass adoption, especially in the United States, I would be interested to hear how the Minister thinks it could be utilised under the powers available to her in the Act. We see the worst practices in shops that would not think twice about selling similarly age-gated products to under-age people, including alcohol and fireworks. On the display ban, I believe that restrictions on what can be displayed at the shop front could inadvertently harm specialist and bespoke retailers more than the shops we are attempting to tackle, so we need a full list of specialist retailers to make sure we support smoking cessation efforts.

The Minister’s predecessor put it very well: if you do not smoke, do not vape, but if you do smoke, switching to vaping is a far preferable choice. The regulation that is being considered should follow that principle.

16:00

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank the hon. Members for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) for securing this debate.

Tackling cancer must be a national priority. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer and is often caused by smoking. It accounts for about 35,000 deaths every year—approximately one in five cancer fatalities—and causes suffering and heartbreak in communities across the country.

I know at first hand the impact that smoking can have, as my father was a very, very heavy smoker. He began smoking at around the age of 14. It was fashionable; everybody did it. Serving in the second world war, there was a plentiful supply of cigarettes. He could not give them up and continued smoking for the rest of his life—often 60-plus a day. It eventually killed him at the very early age of 63. That is why the ambition of a smoke-free Britain is so important to me.

For that reason, I welcomed that Tobacco and Vapes Act, which passed earlier this year. It introduces a progressive generational ban on the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 1 January 2009, which means that future generations will never legally be able to buy cigarettes or other tobacco products. That is particularly important because, although overall smoking rates have fallen over the past 15 years, the proportion of children who have tried smoking has increased from 14% to 18% since 2023.

The Act is an important step forward in trying to stop young people taking up the habit of smoking, but legislation alone is not enough. Experts have rightly raised concerns about enforcement, and the decade of cuts to public health under the previous Government impeded smoking cessation services. The 2022 Khan review warned that, without further action, England would miss its smoke-free target by at least seven years, with some of the poorest areas not becoming smoke-free until 2044. That is why the Liberal Democrats have called for a return to the 2015 levels of public health spending and for renewed investment in smoking cessation services, funded in part by a levy on tobacco company profits.

Tobacco is a uniquely harmful product, and smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the country. It claims about 80,000 lives every year from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. It is linked to at least 16 different cancers and countless other illnesses, and it kills up to two thirds of its long-term users. It is also the leading cause of lung cancer.

Too many patients still face unacceptable waits for diagnosis and treatment. More than 106,000 cancer patients waited longer than 62 days to begin treatment in 2025. Freedom of information requests revealed that most NHS trusts reported patients waiting more than six months for cancer treatment, with some waiting considerably longer. Such delays have serious consequences. Evidence suggests that every four-week delay to treatment can significantly reduce survival rates. For lung cancer patients, early diagnosis and rapid access to treatment can mean the difference between life and death.

Given the need to improve outcomes, I welcome the Government’s national cancer plan. The ambition to meet all cancer waiting time standards by 2029 is positive. That includes the target of all patients beginning treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, for which the Liberal Democrats have been calling for some time.

I am particularly pleased that the plan includes dedicated specialist cancer nurses for patients, but that is a massive ask because of the huge shortage of specialist cancer nurses. The Liberal Democrats would recruit 3,000 additional cancer nurses, doubling the current workforce. Will the Government commit to doing that? In addition, the Liberal Democrats would introduce 200 fully staffed radiotherapy machines across the country, but particularly in areas of deprivation and areas that are currently poorly resourced.

These measures would help to tackle the inequalities that continue to drive poorer outcomes in areas with the highest rates of lung cancer and smoking-related disease. By bringing together prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and addiction support, we can reduce both smoking rates and the harm that smoking causes.

There is a strong economic case for action. Smoking costs society annually an estimated £44.8 billion through healthcare costs, lost productivity, social care pressures and smoking-related fires. Those costs far outweigh the £7.5 billion a year of revenue generated through tobacco taxation. If smokers spent their money elsewhere, it would support up to 135,000 full-time equivalent jobs and boost economic output by billions of pounds.

A smoke-free Britain should be an ambition shared across the House. Reducing smoking, preventing lung cancer and ensuring equal access to high-quality treatment are goals that should transcend party politics.

To finish, I have a couple of quick questions for the Minister. Can she provide an update on progress towards offering opt-out smoking cessation support as part of routine hospital care and explain what further support is being provided to help current smokers to quit? Can she also confirm that local authority funding for smoking cessation services will be protected throughout this Parliament and that the ringfence around the public health grant will remain in place?

16:07

[Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and the hon. Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) on securing this debate. I thank my hon. Friend for his tireless campaigning on this issue over many years.

Smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of cancer, and the prize for tackling it is enormous: fewer deaths, shorter waiting lists and a healthier country. We on the Opposition Benches will support action that works and will hold the Government to account on the delivery of it. As has been mentioned, common ground has been found on this subject throughout the House. I am glad to put on record my party’s appreciation and my thanks to the Government for carrying a Conservative Bill over the line when what was for most of us a rather unexpected general election interrupted progress.

Let me start with that record. The ambition for England to be smoke-free by 2030 was set under a Conservative Government in 2019. The Khan review, commissioned by a Conservative Health Secretary, called for investment in a Smokefree 2030 programme, a rising age of sale, vaping as a substitute for smoking, and stop smoking support at the heart of the NHS. In 2023, we committed an extra £70 million a year to local stop smoking services, more than doubling annual spend to £138 million. Swap to Stop gave almost one in five smokers in England a vape starter kit alongside behavioural support. We put stop smoking advisers in maternity units and introduced incentives for pregnant smokers to stop, and smoking at time of delivery is now at an all-time low. We also began targeted lung cancer screening.

Before the election, as I said, we published the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. I served on the Bill Committee alongside the hon. Members for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank) and for City of Durham, so we remember the cross-party consensus that there was for most of that Bill. The outcome was that anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 will never be legally allowed to buy tobacco. We are proud of that and want it to work, but a law on the statute book does not cut smoking rates by itself. What happens next is what counts, and I want to raise five points with the Minister.

The first is about the target. The Office for National Statistics tells us that 9.8% of adults, or about 4.9 million people, smoked in 2025. That was down from 10.6% the year before. Of course that is welcome, but smoke-free, in definition, means below 5%. On this trajectory, unfortunately, the 2030 target will be missed. I do not say that to point-score, but candour matters. Canada has set a target of under 5% by 2035, and Belgium and the Netherlands a target of under 5% by 2040, with interim targets and goals for young people. If the Government accept the Office for National Statistics figures and that the 2030 target will be missed, they should say so, set a new date and publish an outline plan. Cancer Research UK and ASH both want a new road map and tobacco control plan. Will the Minister commit to one, and when?

Secondly, on support to quit, ASH has warned that hospitals stop smoking services are being squeezed as ICB budgets are reduced. The Government promised opt-out cessation support in routine hospital care. So where is it? The national cancer plan lists implementing the Act as a key action and promises to fund stop smoking services, but it says very little on the delivery. A target without a funded service is an aspiration, not a policy.

That support must also reach the people who need it most. In the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee, I noted that manual and routine workers are 2.6 times more likely to smoke than managers. ASH now points to social housing, the economically inactive, people with no qualifications and those with poor mental health. How will the Government ensure that these gains are shared?

Thirdly, on enforcement and proportionality, Ministers are bringing in a ban on free samples from 29 October; a marketing and sponsorship ban from June of next year; wider standardised packaging, flavour and design rules; licensing; planning permission requirements for vape shops; and extended smoke-free places. All of that regulation lands on trading standards and councils. In the Bill Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) asked trading standards witnesses whether they would have the resources. I warned that online and cross-border sales are the hardest to police. A rule that is not enforced is not really a rule. So what extra resources will trading standards receive, and when?

Rules must also be proportionate. The Government have taken wide powers to extend smoke-free places. The amendment my hon. Friend tabled to the Bill to limit them to places with a provable significant risk to public health was unfortunately rejected. In Committee, I asked the then Minister for a firm commitment on outdoor hospitality; unfortunately, essentially saying that it might not be the right time is not a decent response. Pubs and restaurants are under all sorts of pressures. Will the Minister therefore confirm that they are not in scope in terms of their outside seating?

Fourthly, on vaping, we have always backed vaping as a route out of smoking for adults, as the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon) said. In Committee, I said that what worries me most for our children is vapes. However, the Government can hold both positions at once, and the disposable vape ban, in force since June last year, was a step towards that. ASH suggests that disposable use has fallen significantly, which is encouraging. Yet, Ministers have said little about what they have found from that.

As the Government review planning rules and business rates for vape shops, protecting children must be foremost. For example, on flavours, I urge the Minister to look hard at restricting the names that appeal to children—we talked about unicorn milk and the like endlessly in Committee—before removing options that help adults quit. I would also ask the Minister to revisit the case made by my hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Sarah Bool) for exempting mental health settings from the vape vending machines ban.

Finally, on lung health, respiratory disease is the third most common cause of death in the UK, yet there is no modern service framework for it. My hon. Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham tabled an amendment to the Health Bill requiring one within 18 months. Unfortunately, Government Ministers rejected it. Asthma + Lung UK has called for exactly that kind of mission for lung health. The Government have also committed to a full roll-out of lung cancer screening by 2030—a programme that the Conservative party started. Is it on track and is it funded?

I want to close by paying tribute to a constituent, Yolanda, a volunteer for Cancer Research UK in my community, who has given her time to raise awareness of these issues. She lost her husband, and I put on record my condolences and my thanks. It is people like her working across our constituencies who remind us why the delivery of this is so important and why it matters.

Will the Minister publish a new target and plan? Will she fund hospital stop smoking services and deliver opt-out support? Will she resource trading standards, rule out the hospitality element, report on the disposal vapes ban and reconsider a framework for respiratory disease? We all want this Act to succeed and I will support her in any way I can to deliver it.

16:15

[The Minister for Public Health and Patient Safety (Dame Diana Johnson)]

It is a pleasure to serve under you this afternoon, Ms Vaz. I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy) on securing this important debate, and on their steadfast advocacy in support of creating a smoke-free generation. I am grateful to all hon. Members who have contributed today.

I note that the two hon. Members who secured this debate co-chair the APPG on smoking and health and are obviously a formidable duo. I am not surprised that they were able to secure this debate, which I understand was granted by the Chair and members of the Backbench Business Committee. They obviously made a very powerful case.

Hon. Members raised a number of questions this afternoon, which I will try to address in my remarks, but I would also be very pleased to attend a session of the APPG to discuss the issues further. It is really important that we carry on with the cross-party nature of this debate and the work that has gone on by previous Governments. I pay tribute to the work of the previous Government and previous Prime Minister in this particular area, ably assisted by the hon. Member for Harrow East.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) told us about the rather drastic action his grandfather took to ensure that he remained smoke-free throughout his life. My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon) spoke about the role of vapes in helping people quit smoking. Importantly, she also talked about the illicit products and traders, and the fact that organised crime is funded by those products.

My hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) talked about her professional experience as a physiotherapist and the challenges that are faced particularly in Wales. My hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales) talked about growing up in a family of smokers; he is very anti-smoking. He set out really clearly the health benefits of giving up smoking and how quickly those benefits can materialise.

My hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank) talked about vapes. He chairs the APPG for responsible vaping and also made the case for vapes in helping people cease smoking. Again, I would be very happy to attend and talk to the APPG if that would be helpful.

The hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones), who speaks for the Liberal Democrats, made a very personal statement at the beginning of his speech about the role that smoking had played in his family, with his dad dying at a relatively young age. The Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford), set out the work of previous Governments and asked a series of questions, which I will try to address.

I think we are all agree that tobacco is a uniquely harmful product and smoking is the single most entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability and death in the UK. It is responsible for around 75,000 deaths each year. Smoking reduces life expectancy by an average of 10 years, and almost every minute of every day somebody is admitted to hospital because of smoking-related harm.

Smoking contributes to a range of serious long-term conditions, including stroke, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, asthma and complications during pregnancy. The cost of smoking is not just measured in lives lost and poor health. There are significant economic costs. Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS and social care system £3 billion annually, resources that could otherwise be used to fund millions more appointments, scans and operations.

In terms of health disparities, smoking remains one of the greatest drivers of health inequalities in this country, with the burden falling disproportionately on our most disadvantaged communities. The disparities are stark. For example, the number of women who smoke at the time of delivery varies drastically according to deprivation—from 12% in Havering, 8% in Kingston upon Hull, where my constituency is, compared with less than 1% in Richmond upon Thames. Those are not merely statistics; they represent real families, communities and children whose health and life chances are being diminished by tobacco addiction.

Turning to the smoke-free generation, it is a real privilege to have responsibility for implementing the landmark Tobacco and Vapes Act. As many Members will be aware, the Act will create a smoke-free generation by ending the sale of tobacco products to future generations across the UK. In practical terms, that means than anyone who has turned, or is turning, 17 this year will never legally be sold tobacco. Over the next 50 years, that will save tens of thousands of lives and could boost the economy by up to £48 billion pounds.

Since Royal Assent, the Department has made significant progress towards the implementation of the Tobacco and Vapes Act. We have laid enabling legislation in Parliament, engaged extensively with stakeholders across public health and the retail sector, and published detailed guidance. We are also in the process of developing a nationwide awareness campaign to inform the public. We are expecting that to be rolled out in November with a particular focus on areas with high smoking rates.

The hon. Member for Harrow East asked about what progress has been made on the manifesto pledge for opt-out smoking cessation interventions in all routine care. I want to address that, but first I will say that protecting future generations through our smoke-free generation must go hand in hand with helping current smokers to quit. Through the public health grant, we have ringfenced a record investment of £153 million each year for local stop-smoking services specifically, with funding targeted towards those areas with the highest smoking rates. As I said, the hon. Member for Harrow East and my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham raised the question about services and opt-out. Those services are currently available in 99% of maternity services and 92% of inpatient services. On top of that, ICBs have access to funding for tobacco dependence treatment services in those particular settings.

Many comments were made about youth vaping, and we know that vapes can play an effective role in helping adult smokers to quit, as my hon. Friends the Members for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend and for Falkirk stated. However, young people, and adults who do not smoke, should never vape. That is because we know that they are not harm-free and the longer-term harms are still unknown.

We are taking firm action to protect future generations from the risk of nicotine addiction. That is important given that a million 11 to 17-year-olds have tried vaping this year. We have also banned single-use vapes, and a vaping product duty is now in force. From 29 October, we are introducing a ban on vape vending machines, banning free distribution and extending the age of sale to 18 for all nicotine and vaping products, including nicotine-free vapes.

The Tobacco and Vapes Act also introduces a comprehensive ban on the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products. We intend to bring that into force across the UK from 1 June 2027. My hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk asked how we will ensure that striving for a smoke-free generation does not mean banning key smoking cessation tools such as vapes. The measures consulted on have been carefully assessed to ensure the right balance between protecting children and ensuring that adult smokers can still access vapes to quit smoking.

In terms of upcoming policy changes, in May we concluded our consultation on extending smoke-free places to certain outdoor settings and introducing vape-free places. Our consultation on proposals to reduce the appeal of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products closed on 2 October. We are now carefully considering the responses as we develop effective and proportionate policies that continue to protect public health.

Turning to enforcement, to ensure that measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Act are effective, we are providing up to £30 million a year for enforcement agencies until 2028-29. That will support legitimate businesses and enable stronger enforcement against those who break the law. The Tobacco and Vapes Act also provides new powers for enforcers. New fixed penalty notices come into force on 29 October, supporting trading standards to crack down on retailers who break the rules. The Act also provides powers to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vapes and nicotine products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and to expand the retailer registration scheme in Scotland. To answer the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, we intend to consult on those issues next year.

Several hon. Members asked what comes next after the implementation of the smoke-free generation measures on 1 January and for a longer-term road map for tobacco control and the introduction of a “polluter pays” levy. We share the ambition to drive down smoking rates. Indeed, new figures published just last week show that smoking prevalence across the UK has fallen to 9.8%, which is the first time it has fallen below 10%. That is a significant milestone that demonstrates the progress we are making.

We must not mistake progress for completion, however. Around 4.9 million adults across the UK still smoke, and we remain determined to go further. Our immediate priority is delivering the Tobacco and Vapes Act successfully and ensuring that these landmark reforms achieve their full potential. The Act represents the most significant advance in tobacco control in a generation, and getting implementation right will deliver benefits for decades to come. I am very happy to look at all the issues and suggestions that have been made by hon. Members; perhaps we can discuss them at the APPG.

In supporting smokers to quit, protecting children from nicotine addiction, strengthening enforcement and creating a smoke-free generation, the Tobacco and Vapes Act represents one of the most significant public health reforms of our time. Future generations will look back on this moment as a defining milestone in public health. It is legislation that will save lives, reduce inequalities, improve health outcomes and create a healthier, fairer future for communities across the United Kingdom.

16:26

[Bob Blackman]

It is pleasure to follow the Minister, and I thank her for her comments. I also thank colleagues from across the House for their contributions to this vital debate.

I want to say a couple of things in response to what the Minister and colleagues have said. We have to be cautious about our position on vaping. We do not yet know the long-term impacts on health of vaping, but the first evidence is coming through that vaping does harm lungs. The delivery mechanism of the vape is key. We should be very cautious about that process. I agree with the principle that vaping is a means for smokers to give up, but people who do not smoke should not start vaping. That message has to go to young people in particular, who I think are really harmed by vaping.

Both of my parents died of cancer caused by smoking back in 1979. The advice that they were given as young people was that smoking was healthy. We have to remember that we have a duty to our next generation to ensure that they do not go down the route of believing that vaping is healthy. I agree completely that what we have done in the Tobacco and Vapes Act is give as many hooks as possible for the Public Health Minister to bring in measures.

Licensing is complex, and it is going to take some time to introduce it, but that does not mean that we should not move forward on advertising and other measures. We can decouple those as we go.

These debates have always been led from the Back Benches. We have forced Governments of all persuasions to make changes, and the Minister will know that we are a formidable force who will continue to hold her to account.

[Valerie Vaz (in the Chair)]

I thank Members: we got everyone in, and we did not have to suspend for the vote.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered progress towards a smokefree UK.

16:26

Sitting adjourned.