A SWEEPING new ban on smoking was backed by MPs last night — but only after top Tory Kemi Badenoch opposed the plan.
PM Rishi Sunak’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which he wants to make part of his legacy, passed by 383 votes to 67.
A total of 57 Tories voted against and a huge 106 more abstained, meaning only about half of Tory MPs voted in favour.
The law will make it illegal for anyone born in or after 2009 to ever buy tobacco.
In a heated Commons session, the PM’s big idea was lambasted by several senior Tories.
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He had given his MPs a “free vote”, meaning they could vote against without disciplinary action.
Expected leadership contender Kemi led the charge against the landmark legislation — burnishing her credentials with the Tory right.
The minister, who is in charge of the equalities brief, said she is a big believer in “equality under the law”.
Some Tory MPs say Rishi’s ban falls foul of this principle, as it will mean that — even when they become adults — people can only smoke if they were born before a fixed date.
A 16-year-old today will one day be able to smoke, but anyone turning 15 this year, or younger, never will.
Ms Badenoch said: “We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights.
“Among other reasons it will create difficulties with enforcement.
“This burden will fall not on the state but on private businesses.
“Smoking rates are already declining significantly in the UK and I think there is more we can do to stop children taking up the habit.”
Five ministers and senior names including Liz Truss, Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick also voted against while Commons leader Penny Mordaunt abstained.
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The bill got its second reading with a comfortable majority as Labour MPs supported it.
But Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan revealed she could not back the plan, saying changes are needed to deter young smokers without removing freedom of choice.
Ex-Minister Dehenna Davison, whose nan got lung cancer from smoking, said ministers cannot legislate based on “good intentions and wishful thinking”, saying the plan was not effective or practical.
But it came as a poll showed 59 per cent of the public support the phased ban, with 64 per cent of 2019 Tory voters also backing it.
The changes will make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone who is currently 15 or younger.
I’d argue it is our responsibility, indeed our duty, to protect the next generation
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins
It would not ban smoking outright as anyone who can legally buy tobacco currently can continue to do so if it becomes law.
Ex-PM Liz Truss blasted the Bill as a “virtue-signalling piece of legislation”.
Attacking Labour MPs supporting it, she said: “These are the same people who are saying that we should in the future be banning cigarettes for 30-year-olds and yet they won’t vote to ban puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the under-18s.
'No liberty in addiction'
“I am very concerned that this policy is emblematic of a technocratic establishment in this country that wants to limit people’s freedom, and I think that is a problem.”
She added: “It is very important that until people have decision- making capability while they are growing up, that we protect them.
“But I think the whole idea that we can protect adults from themselves is hugely problematic and it effectively infantilises people.”
Ex-Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry compared the ban to something from China and warned the Government is addicted to telling people what to do.
But Health Secretary Victoria Atkins defended the changes insisting there is “no liberty in addiction”.
She said: “Nicotine robs people of their freedom to choose.
“The vast majority of smokers start when they are young, and three-quarters say that if they could turn back the clock they would not have started.
“I’d argue it is our responsibility, indeed our duty, to protect the next generation.”
England’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty rejected the “pro-choice” arguments against the Bill.
He said: “People are trapped in smoking at a very young age. Once they become addicted, their choice is taken away.
“So, if you’re in favour of choice, you should be against something which takes away people’s choices.
“A great majority of smokers wish they had never started, but now they’re in trouble.”
Sir Chris hit out at the arguments from the tobacco industry, saying they were “flimsy”.
He added: “They’re doing it for commercial reasons.”
No 10 said: “The Prime Minister is in agreement with the Chief Medical Officer.
We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights
Kemi Badenoch
"It’s important to take action against the single biggest preventable cause of ill health.”
However, Simon Clark, of smokers’ lobby group Forest, said: “We urge MPs to reject a policy that will fuel the black market and treat future generations of adults like kids.”
Ex-Minister Sir John Hayes said: “The idea of a rolling age of consent, for the consequence that someone of 35 will be able to buy tobacco, someone of 34 not, and so on and so forth, is at best a curiosity and at worse an absurdity.”
DO YOU BACK THE CIGS CRACKDOWN?
Yes: Says Colin Robertson, Sun head of features
THERE are many things my kids do that I wish they would not.
Staring at phones or playing Fortnite for hours on end. But I let things go, mostly, in pursuit of a quieter life. However there is a line — and letting them smoke cigarettes crosses that.
At present I can enforce my wishes. But at 18 they can choose to buy tobacco products because the law says they can.
I don’t want them to choose smoking (or vaping) so I am in favour of this new staggered age limit as it will mean my two — aged 12 and ten — will never legally be allowed to buy tobacco.
And that will help stop them smoking. You see, I have this crazy notion it may also limit their ability to get smoke- related cancers and other diseases we know are caused by smoking.
And that’s what this new legislation is about. Creating a smoke-free generation.
It is not about stopping existing smokers “enjoying” their fags.
Smoking is not OK and every single smoker knows this. If they say otherwise then they are happy to see my kids — and yours — become addicted to smoking and die.
It’s that simple. Bring on the ban.
No: Says Julia Hartley-Brewer, TalkTV presenter
I DON’T smoke, I’ve never smoked and I can’t bear the smell of cigarettes.
So you’d think I’d be first in line to cheer on Rishi Sunak’s plan to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone who is aged 15 or younger today for the rest of their lives.
But I’m not. This law isn’t about saving lives, it’s about controlling our lives.
Yes, smoking is a filthy, costly habit and it will kill you, but this ban is absurd.
How can we have a law so that, in a few years’ time, an 18-year-old will be unable to buy cigarettes while his mate, born just the day before, can buy 50 packets if he wants? And in decades to come, we would see a 57-year-old unable to buy cigs while a 58-year-old can.
The absurdity and unfairness of this law will be plain to see long before then, so would any government repeal it? Oh no!
Instead they’ll double down and, egged on by do-gooders, will extend the law to ban every adult from smoking.
Why do we even need a ban on a habit that is already dying out? And prohibition will only fuel a black market.
Cheer on this ban if you want, but don’t complain when your vice is next on the list.