Despite resistance from many within his own Conservative Party, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s planned legislation to ban youth smoking will be the subject of the first debate in the UK parliament on Tuesday.
The bill would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to everyone who was born after January 1, 2009; in other words, it would raise the legal smoking age annually until it is applicable to the entire population.
“This has the potential to phase out smoking in young people almost completely as early as 2040,” the government said when it unveiled the plan, calling the move “historic”.
Even while opposition parties appear to be supporting the bill, Sunak still has to worry about potential rebellion from backbench Tory MPs.
The embattled leader, trying to turn around his party after months of dismal polling, has little political capital to work with within his split coalition.
Conservative MP Simon Clarke said on BBC radio that he was “both sceptical and downright opposed” to the plans.
“I think that an outright ban risks being counterproductive, I think it actually risks making smoking cooler, it certainly risks creating a black market, and it also risks creating a unmanageable challenge for the authorities,” he said.
During a Canadian event last week, former prime minister Boris Johnson also declared that he was “mad” that Winston Churchill’s party was “banning cigars”.
Nonetheless, surveys of public opinion indicate that about two thirds of UK citizens support a gradual smoking ban.
