Government announces tobacco control policies
Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at 11:30 Breaking news!
My application to attend ‘in person’ Neil O’Brien’s speech at Policy Exchange today has been accepted.
Having waited several days for confirmation I didn’t think it would happen but despite the short notice (8.15 this morning) I thought it would be rude not to go so I am currently on a train to London.
As things stand though I’m not sure there will be any startling revelations because the Government has done a good job of revealing the minister’s speech in advance.
Following reports at the weekend that O’Brien is going to announce a task force to crack down on rogue retailers illegally selling vapes to children, it was reported this morning that the Government wants to encourage more smokers to switch to e-cigarettes by giving away ‘free’ vape kits.
Almost one in five smokers in England will receive a kit alongside behavioural support, the government said.
In a speech on Tuesday, health minister Neil O'Brien is expected to say the free vape policy - dubbed "swap to stop" - is the first of its kind in the world.
That’s two major initiatives announced in advance of today’s speech.
Furthermore, according to a DHSC press release issued last night:
Health Minister Neil O’Brien will also announce that following the success of local schemes, pregnant women will be offered financial incentives to help them stop smoking. This will involve offering vouchers, alongside behavioural support, to all pregnant women who smoke by the end of next year.
The government will also consult on introducing mandatory cigarette pack inserts with positive messages and information to help people to quit smoking.
So far, so good. (Nothing much to complain about there.)
My concern is that they may be holding something back - for this evening’s news bulletins and tomorrow’s papers - that may be far less palatable.
Or am I just being paranoid?
Update: The Times reports:
The government is avoiding recommendations from an official review to ban smoking in parks and pub gardens or to stop people under a certain age from ever buying cigarettes.
Good news, if true, but that ray of sunshine, Deborah Arnott, CEO of ASH, isn’t happy:
She pointed out that last year’s government-comissioned report by Javed Khan called for investment of £125 million a year to reverse years of cuts to local stop-smoking services, “not to mention the absence of the tougher regulations Khan recommended to raise the age of sale and reduce the appeal of smoking”.
The vaping schemes are welcome, she says, but “nowhere near sufficient”.
More to follow …
Reader Comments (1)
ASH will never be happy until every smoker who refuses to quit is made homeless, friendless, jobless and imprisoned. It is not about health for that fake charity but hatred.
Meanwhile when the government says "Almost one in five smokers in England will receive a kit alongside behavioural support," not only does that sound creepily authoritarian and Big Brotherish, but also an admittance, finally, that smoking is not an addiction but a habit. Addictions, like alcohol, heroin or crack cocaine, need clinical intervention. Habits like smoking need only behaviour change which millions of smokers have done in the past without Government help.
To change a habit one does not need to be forced to switch to vape. Government has no idea of the potential long term implications of vaping but due to a profound hatred of smoking, and the politics of the age, it will happily risk the health of the future for some other Government to deal with.
Meanwhile people who do not like vaping, the thick clouds, or the sickly smell, will be told to put up and shut up and tolerate something they profoundly dislike in a way they were not allowed to do with a wisp of organic tobacco smoke.
That said, you are right in that things could have been a lot worse but it seems to me that vaping is becoming less of a choice and more of a forced switch. It was always going to be used as a weapon against smokers who enjoy smoking and have no intentions of quitting.