What will they ban next?

Seven years ago I said that if more smokers were to switch to e-cigarettes the product had to be as simple as possible to use.

Drawing a comparison between the pipe and the cigarette, I wrote:

My gut feeling ... is that if hundreds of millions of smokers worldwide are to switch to vaping (e-cigarettes or heat-not-burn products) the device has to be as simple to use as a combustible cigarette.

I base this on the observation that the main reason cigarettes were so popular in the 20th century was convenience ...

Comparing the combustible cigarette to the far more cumbersome and time-consuming pipe, I added:

My guess is the majority of smokers will only switch to vaping if the device matches the convenience of cigarettes and offers a similar tobacco-related experience.

See 'Convenience and competition are key for emerging products' (March 19, 2016).

A year or two later the number of vapers in the UK began to stall at around three million but, as often happens, the market responded with the simple to use disposable vape.

I don't think it's a coincidence that we then saw a new surge in numbers, up to 4.5 million vapers in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics, the overwhelming majority of whom are not children but adults.

Despite this, and barely a week after a Conservative spokesman said, "We are not anti-vaping. It is one of the most effective ways to help people quit smoking and our government encourages this switch", the Telegraph has reported that 'Disposable vapes will be banned to stop children becoming addicted to the devices under government proposals to be unveiled early next week'.

You couldn't make it up.

Yes, there are issues to be addressed – including the use of disposable vapes by children – but as the IEA’s Reem Ibrahim rightly tweeted last night:

It is already illegal to sell nicotine products to under-18s. How about the government take responsibility for the failures of law enforcement, rather than trying to enforce further bans that ultimately take away choices for adults?

Unfortunately it’s so much easier to ban something than be a genuine problem solver.

It’s a bit like a factory that is losing money. Rather than addressing the problems and trying to turn things around, it's often easier to close the factory immediately. (It may be easier but I call that poor management.)

Anyway, the Telegraph story broke online last night, together with another story (in The Sun), 'Smokers face BAN outside pubs and restaurants under major rule change demanded by officials', that includes a quote from me.

Readers of this blog will be familiar with this story because I wrote about it only last week ('Peer group still fighting to ban smoking in licensed pavement areas').

The relevant amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill will be 'debated' in the House of Lords tomorrow (Wednesday). If it goes to a vote and gains the consent of the House (which I suspect it may), it will then go back to the Commons.

My hope is that the Government, supported by a large majority of Tory MPs, will reject the amendment, but the way they appear to have crumbled on disposable vapes is concerning.

I remember all too well when, a few months before the 2015 general election, David Cameron's government suddenly decided to introduce plain packaging, having previously kicked it into the long grass.

Labour and the anti-smoking lobby were pushing hard for plain packaging and it was said that Cameron didn't want it to be an election issue, hence the famous 'barnacles off the boat' strategy.

It wouldn't surprise me if Rishi Sunak adopted a similar tactic ahead of the next election, with the bonus that it would make the Government appear proactive, albeit not in a good way if you believe that government should butt out of our lives as much as possible.

Fingers crossed that won't happen, but I've lost faith in politicians and this Government has performed so many u-turns, what's another one to them?

It's worth noting, btw, that when anti-smoking peers tried to ban smoking in licensed pavement areas in 2020, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) said:

“We will not ban outdoor smoking. Since the existing ban was introduced, businesses have invested heavily in their outdoor areas and banning outdoor smoking would lead to significant closures and job losses. Businesses should look at ways they can accommodate both smokers and non-smokers, while smokers should exercise public responsibility and be considerate.

See: English councils call for smoking ban outside pubs and cafes (Guardian, July 18, 2020).

A year later I wrote this ('Happy anniversary to the Business and Planning Act 2020'), noting that the former Business Secretary Robert Jenrick had emailed Manchester City Council to point out that the Council's proposal to set a local smoke free condition on issuing pavement licences was “against the spirit of the emergency legislation passed by Parliament”.

Did that stop Manchester City Council making it a condition of a pavement licence? No, but since then only a handful (around ten) local councils have followed their example, and that's how it should stay – in the hands of local authorities, not central government.

You can read Forest's response to both stories here (Banning disposable vapes would be a "significant own goal") and here (Proposal to ban smoking outside pubs and restaurants "insane").

Meanwhile, here's a thought. What will the Conservatives (or Labour) ban next?

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

One of the reasons they are asking for smokers to be turned away from outdoor areas is, apparently, so "children" don't see them smoking or become tempted to smoke. On the other hand, they want to ban vapes because children love them. As we know, kids today vape and don't smoke so the reasoning for the ban on smokers is another lie. It is for the ideological aim of a future where smokers are criminalised and pushed underground and treated less equally than other consumers - in the name of "levelling up". What a scam.

I must admit that I could not care less if disposable vapes are banned and I do not buy into the myth that they are less risky, especially over the long term. Dose makes poison in all things and puffing continuously on a vape cannot be more healthy than chain smoking. Personally, I find vapes more harmful than moderate smoking. They make me cough more and I can feel my lungs hurt when I use them - and I hate the sickly flavours. Each to their own but how could I want to fight for the right to vape such things as haribo, melon ice, or cherry soda when far too many vaping advocates refuse to fight for the right to smoke or even for smokers to be left alone without harassment from the quit or switch mob?

Clever move by the anti smoker bullies though. Divide and conquer. Get the vapers all fired up and ready for a fight to stop a disposable vape ban so that smokers can be targeted for more social exclusion while the vapers and their supporters in the free choice issue have their backs turned and don't have time to even pay lip service to the plight of smokers.

If the Tories do this, then it is abundantly clear that we live in a one party state and voting for any kind of change is worthless and voting itself has become meaningless. It also proves that we no longer live in a free and tolerant country but rather one where we must do as we are told by unelected tyrants who appear to make laws that no one can do anything about but obey.

I think this is evident in the net zero/LTN/ and ULEZ issues too. First they came for smokers and got away with it and now they have the perfect template that is being rolled out to make freedom of choice illegal for everyone.