U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to put an end to cigarette smoking, and not just among teens, but eventually the entire population.
How does he envision that happening? The nanny state.
Sunak has proposed raising the legal age of people in England who can purchase cigarettes by one year, and wants to continue doing so each year until it becomes illegal for everyone.
If the proposal is approved by Parliament, kids who turn 14 this year and younger will never be able to legally purchase cigarettes in England.
“People take up cigarettes when they’re young. Four in five smokers have started by the time they’re 20,” he said, according to AP. “Later, the vast majority try to quit ... if we could break that cycle, if we could stop the start, then we would be on our way to ending the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country.”
Britain previously raised the age at which a person can legally buy tobacco products in 2007, from 16 to 18 years old, which helped bring smoking down among 16-17-year-olds by 30 percent, according to Sunak’s office.
Rishi Sunak announces a plan to "raise the smoking age by one year, every year" which would mean "a 14-year-old today will never be legally sold a cigarette and that they—and their generation—can grow up smoke-free"https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 4, 2023
📺 Sky 501, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/6UdxIgZoZW
If the proposal succeeds, England won’t be the first country to pass such a legislation. New Zealand approved a similar measure last year.
Critics pushed back on the plan.
"The only people who benefit from this are going to be the criminal gangs happy to sell cigarettes to children."
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) October 5, 2023
Simon Clark, director of pro smoking group FOREST, criticises Rishi Sunak's pledge to create a 'smoke free generation.' pic.twitter.com/Dyqvp9aCq0
Julia says that Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban, which will increase the age limit every year, will create “different grades of adults.”
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) October 4, 2023
“Two people standing side by side, born even a day apart, can’t buy the same legal product. That’s a bizarre state of affairs.”@JuliaHB1 pic.twitter.com/u0J7oZ5Kl5
Kevin O’Sullivan and political campaigns consultant Rebecca Ryan say that Rishi Sunak’s proposed smoking ban is “managerialism and nanny state socialism.”@TVKev | @BeccyRyan pic.twitter.com/hKYy61DN5k
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) October 5, 2023
"Kids will always find a way to smoke if that's what they want to do."@AytonImarn points out underage vaping and alternative means of smoking are increasing, so Rishi Sunak's smoking ban is more of a smoke screen.@theblackfarmer | @StormHuntley | #StormHuntley pic.twitter.com/fPliahogVV
— Jeremy Vine On 5 (@JeremyVineOn5) October 5, 2023
"Prohibition doesn't work, if there's a demand for a product then it will get through. Why are we trying to stop adults smoking?”
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) October 4, 2023
Christopher Snowden reacts to Rishi Sunak’s “illiberal and preposterous” alleged plan to ban smoking for future generations.@TVKev | @cjsnowdon pic.twitter.com/8fgKcjzjYc
Others, supportive of the proposal, wondered why, if his argument was framed on health and on the burden to the NHS, was there not a similar effort underway with regard to other preventable diseases.
Rishi Sunak wants to intervene to protect children from smoking and lessen the burden on our NHS - a good move 👏 But,
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) October 4, 2023
Smoking costs NHS £2.6 billion per year
Diabetes costs NHS £14 billion a year
Why is there no action on junk food, or support for more exercise and better… pic.twitter.com/62xyp54As1