The UK Prime Minister could introduce some of the world’s toughest anti-smoking measures by raising the smoking age, reports The Guardian, citing Whitehall sources.
The newspaper said it understood Sunak’s leadership’s promise that a £10 fine could be reconsidered for people who fail to attend a GP or hospital appointment.
Downing Street has not denied that Mr Sunak is considering adopting a tougher approach to smoking.
Last year, a wide-ranging review led by Dr. Javed Khan backed England over New Zealand’s plan to gradually impose the smoking age to prevent tobacco sales to people born on or after January 1, 2009.
Dr. Khan recommended “increasing the age of sale from 18, by one year, every year until no one can buy a tobacco product in this country,” reports Sky.
If introduced by 2026, it would mean under-15s would never be able to buy cigarettes.
However, Health Secretary Neil O’Brien appeared to reject this approach in April when he said the government’s policy to become smoke-free by 2030 would focus on “helping people to quit” rather than enforcing bans.
He estimated the annual cost of smoking to society at around £17 billion – £2.4 billion for the NHS alone.
A government spokesperson said: “Smoking is a deadly habit – it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy. We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing one million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts,” reports Sky.
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