Nanny Sunak fights on but for how long?

More on the news that the incoming coalition government in New Zealand is to repeal the law banning the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults.

When I wrote about it yesterday I mentioned that the mainstream media in the UK seemed to be ignoring the story, despite the obvious implications for what appears to be one of Rishi Sunak’s flagship policies.

Put simply, having adopted the idea from New Zealand, the PM now finds himself in charge of a policy that has been abandoned by its parent.

Consequently, apart from Sunak’s Government, the only other governments that are currently backing a generational ban on tobacco are the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, led by the SNP and Labour respectively.

However you spin it, those are interesting bedfellows for a Conservative prime minister who, lest we forget, will almost certainly need the votes of Labour MPs to get the legislation through parliament.

With that in mind, you would think the story would have generated a lot more coverage. Instead, only the MailOnline, Express, and Telegraph belatedly published reports online, and they took several hours to appear.

The Times, Guardian and Sun, who all support the generational ban, ignored the story completely. As did the FT, Mirror and, predictably, the BBC.

Thankfully the Press Association stepped up and issued a report that had a quote by me and embedded in the report was a tweet (by Forest) that featured the illustration of Sunak that we commissioned a few weeks ago precisely for moments like this!

The PA report was published by, among others, the Independent, London Evening Standard, and Lancashire Telegraph.

The PA also had the wit to approach Downing Street for a response and, although Sunak’s spokesman insists the Government’s plans for a generational ban are “unchanged”, I’m convinced this is not yet over.

Not least, our ‘Conservative’ prime minister has some explaining to do to his backbenchers to justify a policy dreamt up by a Labour government in New Zealand that has now been rejected by a centre-right coalition in that same country.

See also: New Zealand government u-turn on tobacco sales ban (Convenience Store), New Zealand’s smoking ban u-turn is bad news for Rishi Sunak (The Spectator).

Below: The Forest tweet that featured in the PA report

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

I wish I felt confident that the plan to criminalise smokers was over but thanks to Tories trying to be more Labour than the Labour party they will lose the next election by a landslide and then we will get real Labour and Wes Streeting along with his zealous anti smoker and anti vaper crusade.

I find it difficult to accept that Government refuses to invite our representatives to the table when making decisions on policies that will affect smokers, due to it's inability to break an international treaty such as the FCTC, but quite happily dumps international agreements on human rights when it suits it's ideological position, like the right not to be discriminated against due to age which is exactly what the generational ban does.

I did the consultation which was as I expected. The Government's mind is made up and the questions were not so much about whether smokers should get a good kicking but rather how hard should that kicking be.

I believe that all of these policies designed to beat up smokers from social exclusion, stigmatisation, unfair tax, and now criminalisation, all come from ASH - an unelected lobby group that uses charity status as a front which has managed, unfairly and to the exclusion of opposing opinions, to infiltrate government and force through unpopular laws that no one wants and ultimately get parties booted out of power.

It happened to Labour after the blanket smoking ban and it will happen to Tories because of this ridiculous policy. Parties that focus on smoking and beating up smokers, more than the big issues of concern that could really change future lives for the better, are seen as weak and ineffectual dogsbodies or - as we lower classes say - all mouth and no trousers.

That describes Rishi Sunak and his smoking ban gimmick perfectly.