Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Debate between Daisy Cooper and Rosie WintertonTuesday 16th April 2024
(1 week, 6 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Tobacco and Vapes Bill 2023-24 View all Tobacco and Vapes Bill 2023-24 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Daisy Cooper
Colleagues across the House have genuine concerns about that point. I know from engagements in my constituency that a number of retailers already suffer attacks when challenging people wishing to buy other age-related products, so I hope the Government will offer reassurances about what they intend to do to tackle that.
As I have said, I will be supporting the measures in this Bill, but coming to that decision was a bit of a journey for me. My first reaction on hearing of the Bill before it was published was indignation, because the measures are just a drop in the ocean in terms of what is needed to tackle cancer. One in two of us will get cancer at some point, yet the Government have missed their targets to provide fast cancer treatment every year since 2015 and have dropped their 10-year cancer plan. What we need is research in rare cancers, outdated cancer scanners updated, cancer nurses and efforts to tackle waiting times. It would perhaps have been better if the measures in this Bill had been a single clause in a much broader Bill. To be honest, I am frustrated that so much energy is going into this Bill, which could be described as low-hanging fruit, rather than into producing a much more ambitious plan to tackle cancer more broadly. We need to see more ambition in this area.
My second reaction was the raising of my liberal hackles. Liberals are not libertarians; we do not object to all bans. Liberals support bans as a last resort, but not as a first lever. The situation here is frustrating, however: it is a bit rich that the Government are bringing this Bill forward when they have simultaneously been slashing public health budgets, including for smoking cessation programmes, since 2015. Even with the new money the Government have put into smoking cessation programmes, the funds still fall far short of 2015 levels. We also know that smoking rates among young people have dropped very quickly; they are now down to 1% and continue to drop.
Liberals do sometimes back bans when a particular product or practice causes excessive harm, and that is why I have decided to back this ban. Fundamentally, I asked myself a simple question: is this going to help reduce the overwhelming harm caused by the significantly dangerous and addictive practice of smoking? The answer is yes, it is. We know that smoking is dangerous and highly addictive. We know that smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer, causing around one in four cancer deaths, including 64,000 in England alone. We know that 75,000 GP appointments each month are taken up by smoking-related illness. We know that smoking costs the economy £17 billion a year through smoking-related lost earnings, unemployment and early death. We know that it comes at enormous cost to our NHS, and we know that smoking rates in pregnancy vary hugely, with as many as 20% of pregnant women smoking in some parts of the country, increasing the chance of stillbirth by almost 50%. That is an incredibly stark health inequality.
Some people have suggested it could be contradictory for a liberal to support a ban on tobacco for 15-year-olds and younger while wanting to legalise cannabis, but let me say to them that they are wrong. It is entirely consistent for a liberal to want to make harmful products illegal—harmful products such as nicotine in cigarettes, skunk and products with high THC levels that can cause psychosis—while simultaneously wanting to have a legal regulated market for less harmful products such as vapes for nicotine and cannabis products with low and regulated THC levels.
In conclusion, do I think this measure is the first or best thing that the Government should be doing to tackle cancer? No. Do I think this measure is particularly ambitious? No. But do I think it is a useful step that will help us to tackle the dangerous health impacts of smoking addiction, to improve population health and to take pressure off the NHS? Personally, I do.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
I remind colleagues to stick to the guidance of seven minutes, because otherwise I will have to impose a time limit, and it might not be seven minutes, which would be annoying for everybody.
Point of Order
Debate between Daisy Cooper and Rosie Winterton
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On 12 August, the Government made a significant policy announcement via a statement to BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme but without informing Members of this House. They said via the radio that they would not be purchasing Evusheld, a preventive covid treatment for the estimated half a million immunosuppressed and immunocompromised patients, many of whom are still shielding from covid-19. No “Dear Colleague” letter was circulated to Members of this House setting out the background and rationale for such a major policy decision, nor did I have any response to my request in a letter to the Secretary of State to meet with MPs virtually during the summer recess to explain his decision.
Outside this House, various arguments to refuse this life-saving treatment have been put forward by Ministers, but they simply do not stand up to scrutiny. It is therefore vital that Members of this House have the opportunity to properly scrutinise the Government here in public view in this Chamber.
Madam Deputy Speaker, can you please advise whether the Government have given you any indication that they intend to make a statement this week, or perhaps issue a “Dear Colleague” letter? If not, can you please advise how we can bring the next Secretary of State to this Chamber to answer questions on why the Government continue to block a drug for the most vulnerable among us—a drug that is medically approved, clinically effective, cost-effective and in use by many other countries?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving me notice of her point of order. I can confirm that Mr Speaker has not had notice of any statement on this subject. The hon. Lady will know the various ways in which she can continue to pursue the issues she has raised, but I am confident that those on the Government Benches will have heard her comments and I am sure they will feed them back to the relevant Government Departments. Clerks in the Table Office will also be able to give the hon. Lady advice on how she might pursue this.
We now come to the Second Reading of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. Not moved.
Points of Order
Debate between Daisy Cooper and Rosie Winterton
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. During questions to the Prime Minister the right hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Sir Mike Penning) inadvertently misled the House over the decision-making process to proceed with redeveloping west Hertfordshire hospitals at St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Watford General. I have notified the right hon. Member by email and in person of this point of order. Unfortunately, in an earlier point of order he repeated the claim that the trust had not considered all sites when reaching its decision, implying that that was the wrong thing to do.
The right hon. Member might not be aware that the judicial review in October 2020, brought by campaigners who share his view, found that the trust had acted properly and legally when it concluded that developing one of the greenfield sites that he favours would be too risky and take far too long to bring to fruition. As such, it was quite proper that the trust did not consider those risky sites. Can you advise me, Madam Deputy Speaker, on the most expedient way for him to correct the record on this important point, and on how we as a House can press the Government urgently to release funds to our hospital trusts where buildings are literally crumbling down?
Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order. She is in effect continuing a discussion that took place during Prime Minister’s questions. As I just said in response to another point of order, the Chair is not responsible for the comments made by hon. or right hon. Members. There are plenty of ways in which she can put her point of view on record, as she just has, and she can consult the Table Office about those. I do not want to continue a debate where there are different views, which is not appropriate for a point of order.
Points of Order
Debate between Daisy Cooper and Rosie Winterton
Madam Deputy Speaker
I am afraid that correspondence between Members on a party basis is not a matter for the Chair. I am sure that the hon. Lady knows, or will acquaint herself with, the many ways of pursuing the substantive point in proceedings, as well as by perhaps raising concern with the Electoral Commission, given what she has said.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On Wednesday 27 April, I asked the Prime Minister, at Prime Minister’s questions, whether he would apologise to bereaved families and care workers in the light of the High Court ruling that the Government had broken the law when in 2020 they discharged patients to care homes without testing them for covid first. I believe that in his response he inadvertently misled the House, by claiming that
“the thing we did not know in particular was that covid could be transmitted asymptomatically”—[Official Report, 27 April 2022; Vol. 712, c. 762.]
This matter was raised as a point of order by the hon. Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire) on Thursday 28 April. Madam Deputy Speaker, I appreciate that you are not responsible for the content of the Prime Minister’s speech, but I am sure that none of us wants the record to be inaccurate. As such, I was wondering whether you had received any indication from the Prime Minister that he intends to correct the record, for example at the start of Prime Minister’s questions tomorrow. If not, what further avenues might be available to me and other Members to ensure that the Prime Minister returns to the House and corrects the record, if he chooses not to do so when he appears tomorrow?
Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order. First, I have not received any notification about anything the Prime Minister might be saying tomorrow. As she knows and indeed mentioned, this matter was raised on 28 April, and I am afraid there is nothing further I can add to the response given then.
Points of Order
Debate between Daisy Cooper and Rosie Winterton
Madam Deputy Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order. As she says, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has today published a consultation that is open until Thursday 12 May. Mr Speaker has not had an application from the Department to make an oral statement today.
I say again that the Leader of the House was present for business questions; it would have been very appropriate for the hon. Lady to raise the issue then so that she had direct access to the Leader of the House. I advise her that that would be a good way to draw attention to the point she made. Having said that, those on the Treasury Bench will have heard her. I urge Members who wish to raise points of order after business questions to remember that they have the chance to raise issues directly with the Leader of the House during business questions.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. When the Government announced an end to free lateral flow tests, the Prime Minister said:
“We don’t need to keep spending at a rate of £2 billion a month, which is what we were doing in January.”
The public could be forgiven for getting the impression that the tests were costing £2 billion every month, but commentators were quick to highlight that the figure for January was probably inflated because of the requirement for people to have two negative lateral flow tests before they could leave self-isolation.
To get to the bottom of how much lateral flow tests were actually costing, I tabled two written questions to the Government to ask for the total amount that lateral flow tests were costing on a monthly basis and over a 12-month period. The Government answered, but refused to give me the data, claiming it was “commercially sensitive”.
It is outrageous that the public are being kept in the dark as to how much lateral flow tests have actually cost the public purse over the past year. I would like the Government to come clean and publish the figures. What is your advice, Madam Deputy Speaker, on how I might persuade or compel the Government to disclose to Members the figures for how much the tests have cost over the past 12 months?
Madam Deputy Speaker
I thank the hon. Lady for her point of order. This is perhaps something that she has already raised, or will in the future, during any statements or urgent questions on the issue. She might like to go to the Table Office to see whether there are other routes that she could pursue. I am not sure whether she was indicating that confusing advice had been given to the House, or that it had not got any advice at all. If it is not getting any advice at all, she might like to go to the Table Office to ask whether there are other ways in which she might like to get this information. She might like to see whether any members of the Health and Social Care Committee or the Public Accounts Committee would be interested in looking into this. Again, I am sure that those on the Treasury Bench will have heard her comments and will take back to Ministers her concern that this information is not forthcoming.