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Legal smoking age could rise to 21 under Sajid Javid’s ‘radical’ plans for smokers
Tobacco companies could also see their profits taxed as part of the new plans
The government is said to be considering raising the legal smoking age in England from eighteen to twenty-one in a bid to make the country smoke-free by 2030.
According to a report by The Telegraph, a ‘radical’ independent review commissioned by Health Secretary Sajid Javid will recommend that the legal age to purchase cigarettes is increased and that new taxes are slapped on tobacco company profits.
Javid is said to have got his inspiration from policies in the US, where the legal age is twenty-one, and in New Zealand, where the purchase of cigarettes will forever be illegal for anyone currently aged fourteen and under.
The report, drawn up by former Barnardo’s boss Javed Khan, is also likely to recommend that the NHS does more to push vaping and e-cigarettes to smokers, especially on pregnant mothers.
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Khan has said he supports a ‘polluter pays’ approach that would force tobacco companies to finance anti-smoking policies.
When the review was launched, he said his findings would ‘help highlight key interventions which can help the government achieve its ambitions to be smoke-free by 2030 and tackle health disparities’.
A source who Khan allegedly consulted with during the review told the newspaper: “The stance he’s taken in the meetings I’ve had with him has been quite radical.”
Khan previously told The Times that if ‘nothing different is done’ in the approach to curbing the use of cigarettes, then the target to make the UK smoke-free by 2030 would not be met.
He explained: “We are thinking seriously about the age of sale… Just look at the Covid experience, mass marketing has a big effect, it really works.
“The government went hell for leather, it made an enormous difference in vaccination rates.”
Last year, five British councils – Manchester included – banned smoking in pavement dining areas outside pubs, bars and restaurants in their own attempt to combat the habit before 2030.
The government first announced its pledge to make England ‘smoke-free’ by 2030 in 2019. Smoke-free status is officially recognised by the Government when 5% or less of an area’s population are smokers.