British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering introducing measures that would ban the next generation from ever being able to purchase cigarettes, reports The Guardian.

Whitehall sources have said that Sunak is mulling over introducing anti-smoking measures similar to those already in place in New Zealand that would effectively ban the next generation from ever being able to buy cigarettes. In New Zealand, the legal smoking age is being steadily increased so that no one born on or after 1 January 2009 will ever legally be able to buy cigarettes.
According to The Guardian, Labour has previously looked into phasing out cigarette sales over time for younger people with the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, saying in January he wanted to find out whether there was an “appetite for change” in the country.
“Smoking is a deadly habit – it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy,” a government spokesperson said regarding the possibility of introducing a smoking ban similar to in New Zealand.
“We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing 1 million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit, and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts.”