A new poll has found that almost two thirds of adults in Britain say that when people are 18 and legally an adult they should be allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The survey, conducted by Yonder Consulting for Forest, found that 64% of respondents think that if a person can vote, drive a car, join the army, buy alcohol, and possess a credit card at 18, they should also be allowed to purchase tobacco.
Only a quarter (26%) said they should not be allowed to purchase tobacco products when they are legally an adult at 18, while 10% said 'don't know'.
Interestingly, we asked the same question in November and on that occasion 58% said adults aged 18+ should be allowed to purchase tobacco, 32% said ‘should not’, and 10% said ‘don’t know’.
Coincidentally, publication of the new poll coincided with the announcement on Sunday evening that the Government is to proceed with a bill to prohibit the sale of tobacco to future generations of adults, and ban the sale of disposable vapes.
There are also plans to restrict vape flavours, introduce plain packaging for vapes, and change how they are displayed in shops so they don’t appeal to children.
I expected to be busier, media wise, but most reports and interviews (including the handful I did yesterday) focused on the disposable vape ban.
Likewise, the one comment the Press Association picked from the Forest press release issued on Sunday was not about the tobacco sales ban but about vapes.
Guido Fawkes ran a story about the Forest poll here, and it included a direct response from former prime minister Liz Truss:
“This is what I am hearing from people I speak to in my South West Norfolk constituency. People want under-18s to be protected. They don’t want adults’ freedoms to be restricted. I fear this is a slippery slope.”
The former PM’s full reaction to the Government’s announcement that it is pressing ahead with plans to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, read:
“While the state has a duty to protect children from harm, in a free society, adults must be able to make their own choices about their own lives.
“Banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or later will create an absurd situation where adults enjoy different rights based on their birthdate.
“A Conservative government should not be seeking to extend the nanny state. This will only give succour to those who wish to ban further choices of which they don't approve.
“The newly-elected National government in New Zealand is already reversing the generational tobacco ban proposed by the previous administration.
“The Government urgently needs to follow suit and reverse this profoundly unconservative policy."
Asked about his predecessor’s response, Rishi Sunak is reported to have said, “I don’t think there’s anything unconservative about caring about our children’s health”, which suggests he doesn’t understand the point that opponents of the policy are making.
Of course there’s nothing “unconservative about caring for our children’s health”. But when “our children” are 18 they are legally adults and whilst, as parents, we will continue to care about their health, it is ultimately their choice - not ours - how they live their lives, and what risks they take, and as parents we have to respect that.
The idea that we should dictate our children’s lifestyle long after they have grown up and left home, is absurd.
In one respect however the PM is correct. The policy is not entirely ‘unconservative’ because there is a long history of paternalism in the Conservative Party.
Banning the sale of tobacco to future generations is nevertheless a radical departure for a Tory government that nine months ago dismissed the idea as "too big a departure" and said it wasn't going to pursue it.
Anyway, I’m grateful to Liz Truss for her intervention. Following her short and turbulent period in office it’s easy for people to mock the former PM and criticise anything she says, but I have enormous respect for politicians who stick to their principles, and in this case Truss is doing just that.
After entering Parliament in 2010, she voted in favour of an amendment to the smoking ban that would have allowed separate smoking rooms. She subsequently voted against plain packaging, and I think she also voted against the ban on smoking in cars carrying children, so her response to a generational tobacco sales ban is entirely consistent.
Sunak, on the other hand, simply wants to leave a legacy. Sometimes this is no bad thing. In this instance, however, targeting smoking smacks of opportunism bordering on desperation, and it’s not a good look.
