Following the path of New Zealand, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is also planning to ban smoking in the country. In a report released by The Guardian on Friday, government sources said that the British Prime Minister is considering laws that will prevent the next generation from buying cigarettes. New Zealand is banned from selling tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009. According to the report, Sunak is considering such anti-smoking measures on the lines of laws issued last year in New Zealand.
The report said the policies in question are part of a new consumer-focused campaign from Sunak’s team ahead of a possible election next year. Britain announced in May that it would ban e-cigarettes by closing a loophole allowing retailers to give children free samples of vapes. In July, separate councils in England and Wales called on the government to ban the sale of single-use vapes by 2024 on both environmental and health grounds.
“We want to encourage more people to quit smoking and deliver on our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have raised smoking rates,” a British government spokesperson said in an email response to Reuters. Steps have already been taken to reduce it. He added that those measures include free vape kits, a voucher scheme to encourage pregnant women to quit cigarettes and counselling on mandatory cigarette pack insertion.
