From stitch up to carve up – how Rishi Sunak's government works

You've got to laugh.

Last week I highlighted the make up of the Committee that will consider written and oral evidence in relation to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

I noted that of the 17 MPs on the Committee, 16 had voted in favour of the Bill at the second reading two weeks ago, and the only person who didn't – Labour's Mary Kelly Foy – is vice-chair of the APPG on Smoking and Health which is run by ASH so it's clear which way she would have voted had she been in the House.

Guido Fawkes ran the story here and included a quote by me:

“Committees don’t need to be balanced but this is such an obvious stitch-up it’s embarrassing. The make-up of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee is effectively a f*ck you to every MP who voted against the Bill, and every member of the public who opposes the generational smoking ban.”

Four days later I've got more news for you. If the composition of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee was a stitch up, the next stage of the process goes even further.

This morning the Government published the list of people and organisations that have been invited to give oral evidence to the Committee over the next two days.

Aside from how quickly the process is being steamrollered through parliament (just four working days from confirmation of the Committee last Wednesday to 33 witnesses giving oral evidence to members of that same body), it's clear the Government couldn't give a damn about any opinion that differs from its own or doesn't support the Bill.

Starting at 9.25am tomorrow morning, the Committee will therefore 'consider' oral evidence from the following:

• Michelle Mitchell OBE (Chief Executive at Cancer Research UK)
• Deborah Arnott (Chief Executive at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH))
• Sheila Duffy (Chief Executive at Action on Smoking and Health Scotland)
• Dr Charmaine Griffiths (Chief Executive at British Heart Foundation)
• Sarah Sleet (Chief Executive Officer at Asthma and Lung UK)
• Dr Patrick Roach (General Secretary at NASUWT - The Teachers' Union)
• Matthew Shanks (Chair at Secondary Teacher Reference Group)
• Paul Farmer (Chief Executive at Age UK)
• Cllr David Fothergill (Deputy Chair of the LGA, Chairman of the LGA Community Wellbeing Board at Local Government Association (LGA))
• Greg Fell (President at Association of Directors of Public Health)
• Ailsa Rutter OBE (Director at Fresh and Balance North East)
• Adrian Simpson (Policy Adviser – Retail Products at British Retail Consortium)
• John Herriman (CEO at Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI))
• Kate Pike (CTSI Lead Officer for Vaping at Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI))
• Laura Young (PhD Student at Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, University of Dundee)
• Professor Linda Bauld OBE (Bruce and John Usher Chair in Public Health at University of Edinburgh)
• Professor Robert West (Professor Emeritus of Health Psychology at University College London (UCL))
• Professor Ann McNeill (Professor of Tobacco Addiction at King’s College London)

You couldn't make it up. But it gets better (or worse, depending on your outlook) because on Wednesday the oral evidence session continues with these witnesses:

• Professor Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England
• Sir Francis Atherton, Chief Medical Officer for Wales
• Professor Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland
• Professor Sir Gregor Ian Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland
• Professor Sir Steven Powis (National Medical Director at NHS England)
• Kate Brintworth (Chief Midwifery Officer at NHS England)
• Professor Kamilla Hawthorne MBE (Chair of the Council at Royal College of General Practitioners)
• Professor Steve Turner (President at Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH))
• Professor Sanjay Agrawal (RCP’s special adviser on tobacco at Royal College of Physicians)
• Dr Tim Mitchell (President at Royal College of Surgeons)
• Mark Rowland (Chief Executive at Mental Health Foundation)
• Dr Laura Squire OBE (Chief Healthcare Quality and Access Officer at Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA))
• Mr David Lawson (Director at Inter Scientific Ltd.)
  Professor Allison Ford (Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at University of Stirling)
• Dr Rob Branston (Senior Lecturer at University of Bath)
• Professor Anna Gilmore (Professor of Public Health at University of Bath)

Many of the names will be familiar to you and I would be gobsmacked if a single witness is opposed to the Bill, other than complaining that it doesn't go far enough.

Rishi Sunak is clearly so desperate to get the legislation through parliament without delay or proper scrutiny that opponents – including shopkeepers who have genuine concerns about the impact of the Bill on retail crime and the safety of staff – have been completely sidelined.

Unlike PhD student and 'social media influencer' Laura Young, also known as Less Waste Laura, who was almost unheard of a couple of years ago.

Now, thanks to her one woman campaign to ban disposable vapes, she has been invited to give evidence whilst other campaigners, opposed to prohibition, have been frozen out.

Faced with what is sure to be an overwhelming defeat in the election, whenever it's held, it's as if the prime minister is saying: "Damn them, I don't care any more. This is my legacy and I'm going to get this Bill through regardless of opposition even within my own party."

This isn't a stitch up, it's a carve up, yet few people seem in the slightest bit bothered.

Is this the moment democracy died? Probably not, because it's been on life support for some time, but the more I see how the system works the less I trust it, and the less I trust it the less I like it, and the less I like it the less likely I am to vote.

Consequently an increasing number of people like me simply won't vote because ... why should we?

In a democracy I'm perfectly happy to accept the will of the majority, even if I disagree with it, but en route I do expect government to at least consider my point of view, and that of millions of people who share those views, in the course of the political process.

Instead, what we're experiencing with the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is more like Soviet or Russian politics where legitimate opposition to government policy is ignored and opponents are effectively cancelled.

For me, Sunak's legacy won’t be fewer children smoking, but fewer adults voting because ... why bother?

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

Well said. What is the point of voting for more of the same from the same kind of party who can only be distinguished by the colour of its banner which is worthless when all the policies are the same..

Lib/Lab/Con still holds true. No matter who you vote for, the civil servants and strategically placed lobbyists, who sell such stupid ideas to wannabes like Sunak, still hold the balance of power. Democracy is dead and as long as voting makes no difference, what is the point of it. Going underground is the only way to beat the system.

I won't be voting again until there is a party that truly represents and respects freedom of choice in a grown up civil and tolerant society.

[Vinny Gracchus]

One again we see confirmation that tobacco control is at its core a totalitarian project. The facade of parliamentary process is little more than a ruse to obscure the all out assault on liberty and liberal democracy. It is well past time for tobacco control’s manipulation of the political process to be exposed.