Prime Minister to create ‘smokefree generation’ by ending cigarette sales to those born on or after 1 January 2009

The government is set to introduce a historic new law to stop children who turn 14 this year or younger from ever legally being sold cigarettes in England, in a bid to create the first ‘smokefree generation’.

Proposed new legislation will make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products – effectively raising the smoking age by a year each year until it applies to the whole population.

The government says has the potential to phase out smoking in young people almost completely as early as 2040.

Smoking is highly addictive, with four in five smokers starting before the age of 20 and remaining addicted for the rest of their lives. By stopping young people from ever starting to smoke, the government hopes to protect an entire generation of young people from the harms of smoking as they grow older.

Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer – causing around one in four cancer deaths and leading to 64,000 deaths per year in England. It puts huge pressure on the NHS, with almost one hospital admission every minute attributable to smoking and up to 75,000 GP appointments each month taken up by smoking-related illness.

It is also one of the biggest drivers of health inequalities across the country – deaths from smoking are more than two times higher in the most deprived local authorities, where more people smoke, compared to the most affluent.

Smoking rates in pregnancy also vary hugely, with as many as 20% of pregnant women smoking in some parts of the country – increasing the chance of stillbirth by almost 50%.

Smoking also costs the economy £17 billion a year, through smoking-related lost earnings, unemployment, early deaths and costs to the NHS.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “No parent ever wants their child to start smoking. It is a deadly habit – killing tens of thousands of people and costing our NHS billions each year, while also being hugely detrimental to our productivity as a country.

“I want to build a better and brighter future for our children, so that’s why I want to stamp out smoking for good. These changes will mean our kids will never be able to buy a cigarette, preventing them getting hooked and protecting their health both now and in the future.”

Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, said: “Smoking damages many lives. It causes stillbirths, asthma in children, heart disease, stroke and dementia in addition to causing most lung cancer and increasing risk of many other cancers.

“Becoming addicted to cigarettes in early life is one of the worst things that can happen for future health. Preventing people becoming addicted to smoking, and helping those who smoke to quit are two of the most important measures we can take to improve health.”

The government has also announced a further major crackdown on youth vaping, by announcing an intention to consult on plans to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children.

Whilst vaping is used by many adults as a tool to quit smoking, official health advice says you shouldn’t pick up the habit if you don’t already smoke, and children should never adopt vaping.

It is already illegal for children to vape, but the government says youth vaping has tripled in the last three years, and more children now vape than smoke.

The consultation will look at:

• Restricting the flavours and descriptions of vapes so that they don’t appeal to children
• Regulating point of sale displays in retail outlets so that vapes are kept out of sight from children and away from products that appeal to them, such as sweets.
• Regulating vape packaging and product presentation, ensuring that neither the device nor its packaging is targeted to children.
• Restricting the sale of disposable vapes, which are clearly linked to the rise in vaping in children. These products are not only attractive to children but also incredibly harmful to the environment.

The government says it will also close ‘loopholes in the law’ which allow children to get free samples and buy non-nicotine vapes, and invest in additional services to help people stop smoking.

The government has pledged to ‘more than double’ the current funding for services to help people quit – which it says will support around 360,000 people – as well as providing national tobacco marketing campaigns to explain the changes, the benefits of quitting and support available, and roll out a new national ‘swap to stop’ scheme – supporting 1 million smokers to swap cigarettes for vapes.

An independent review published in 2022 claims that if the government does not act, nearly half a million people will die from smoking by 2030.

These changes are expected to mean up to 1.7 million fewer people smoke by 2075 – saving tens of thousands of lives, saving the health and care system billions of pounds and boosting the economy by up to £85 billion by 2075. The government says this would also avoid up to 115,000 cases of strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other lung diseases.

Smoking will not be criminalised, and the phased approach means anyone who can legally buy cigarettes now will not be prevented from doing so in future.

Overall, the number of people who smoke has reduced by two-thirds since 1974, when smoking was at its peak.

The measures have been welcomed by the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership.

Sarah Price, Chief Officer for Population & Health Inequalities at NHS Greater Manchester, said: “This is a historic moment. I look back on when the smoke-free law came into effect and the societal shift it brought about – and this is another vital step forward.

“Tobacco is a uniquely harmful product. There’s no other legal product out there which kills two in three consumers when used exactly as intended. In Greater Manchester, too many communities are still suffering from the harms of tobacco and the government’s commitment to see a generation which grows up smoke-free is warmly welcomed.

“People in Greater Manchester want to see an end to the health inequalities starkly felt across their communities and an end to young people getting hooked on smoking, so it’s fantastic that the government has announced plans to raise the age of sale on cigarettes, plus tougher enforcement action on tobacco and vapes.

“Additional funding announced for local stop smoking services and for mass media campaigns will support our successful, collaborative and comprehensive approach to Making Smoking History and delivering a Smokefree 2030 together across our city region.”