In an attempt to block Rishi Sunak’s smoking bill that plans to phase out smoking, Philip Morris had threatened to take legal action, reports Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

The bill plans to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products year by year to eventually phase smoking out completely. Philip Morris had threatened legal action over the bill, which health officials feared would cause lengthy delays to the passing of the bill. However, Philip Morris has now withdrawn the threat after the government made changes to its consultation ahead of any Bill, reports ASH.
Philip Morris supports the government’s plan to make England smoke-free by 2030 but wanted heated tobacco products to be excluded from new legislation. According to The Telegraph, Philip Morris sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Department of Health and Social Care voicing its concerns an asking heated tobacco products to be excluded from the new legislation.
A senior source in Whitehall said that the letter looked like an attempt to hold up the legislation with Andrea Leadsom, the public health minister, going one step further in accusing the tobacco industry of being “active in trying to undermine the policy.”
“We notified the government of procedural flaws in the consultation process. They subsequently amended the consultation procedure to allow substantive responses and answered other enquiries. As such, we withdrew the claim on 15th January. We agree with the Government’s smoke-free 2030 ambition, however, we do not believe that reduced-risk smoke-free products—including heated tobacco—should be included alongside combustible cigarettes in any potential legislation. Including some smoke-free products in this legislation would confuse adult smokers looking to switch to a better alternative,” Philip Morris said in a statement.