Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to stop anyone aged 15 and under from ever legally buying cigarettes passed its first parliamentary vote on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

The bill passed its first vote in parliament with 383 in favour and 67 against which means it will progress to the next stage in parliament where it could be amended, reports Reuters.
While the results of the vote were clear, many members of the Conservative Party voted against Sunak’s plan with Liz Truss and Boris Johnson both saying the government should not interfere in how people live their lives. Of the 67 votes against the bill, 57 came from Conservatives resulting in a blow for Sunak who is already facing criticism in his own ranks over his policies on climate change and defence, reports Reuters.
Sunak’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to prevent children born on and after 1 January 2009 from ever being able to legally buy tobacco with the Prime Minister saying it will help fight “the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death”.
Medical and healthcare experts support the ban and polling by YouGov also suggests a smoking ban is popular, with a third of voters supporting the phased approach, 30 per cent supporting a ban for everyone at the same time and only a quarter saying there shouldn’t be any ban, according to Reuters.
Cigarette companies have criticised the proposed ban saying it would be difficult to enforce and could boost the black market.
Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch said she supported Sunak’s intentions but was concerned about the ban’s impact on people’s rights and difficulty in enforcing the policy, reports Reuters.
“We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights,” she said on social media platform X.