Displaying items by tag: legal smoking age

Rishi Sunak has unveiled a plan to increase the legal smoking age by one year every year, describing it as the ‘most significant public health intervention in a generation’. This initiative has the potential to substantially reduce smoking among young people by as early as 2040. Sunak emphasised the critical importance of addressing smoking, stating that it is the leading preventable cause of death, disability, and illness in society. He argued that there is ‘no safe level of smoking’ and defended the move against concerns about individual choice. The Government anticipates that these measures could result in up to 1.7 million fewer people smoking by 2075. Sunak stressed the need to prevent teenagers from taking up smoking, as the majority of smokers start before the age of 20. In addition to cracking down on smoking, the Government also plans to examine and regulate the availability and marketing of vaping products, especially to children. The goal is to reduce the attractiveness of vaping to young people while providing an alternative to smoking for current smokers.