If you're a British middle schooler looking forward to the day when you can wander into a Tesco and legally pick up a pack of cigarettes, you have a long wait ahead—as in forever, if Rishi Sunak's plans come to fruition. Per the AP, the UK prime minister, who was speaking at a Conservative Party conference on Wednesday, expanded on his proposal to progressively raise the smoking age one year at a time, each year, until it's not legal to smoke at all. Consumers currently have to be at least 18 to purchase cigarettes or tobacco products in the United Kingdom. Sources have said Sunak's plan would be similar to one approved in New Zealand last year, where anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, would be barred from buying tobacco products—even once they become full-fledged adults.
A similar plan in England would cover all kids there who turned 14 this year, as well as children younger than that; Sunak's plan, if approved by Parliament, wouldn't apply to individuals in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland. "A 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette," Sunak proclaimed Wednesday, per Reuters. His proposed legislation wouldn't criminalize smoking in the United Kingdom, where stats show about 13% of the population still smokes, per the AP. "People take up cigarettes when they're young," Sunak said. "Later, the vast majority try to quit ... if we could break that cycle, if we could stop the start, then we would be on our way to ending the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country." Sunak said he also wants his administration to tackle vaping among young people with new restrictions.
Reuters notes that the price tag for Britain's health services due to smoking runs around $20.6 billion annually. Not surprisingly, the tobacco industry isn't happy about Sunak's plan, with the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association calling it a "disproportionate attack" on adult smokers' rights. "The prohibition of legal products always has dangerous side effects and opens the door to criminal gangs to sell illegal products," the group noted. Those in the industry fear that other countries may soon follow suit, as Denmark is already planning to do. A government spokesperson last month told the Guardian that other measures the UK is taking to combat smoking addiction include a "swap to stop" scheme, where smokers receive a free vape kit, as well as vouchers to help pregnant women quit. Sunak's proposal needs to now pass a free vote in the nation's Parliament to become law. (More cigarettes stories.)
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