Doctors and public health campaigners have called on the new Labour government to ensure that plans to phase out smoking sit at the ‘front and centre’ of its agenda.
Labour backed the previous government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which would make it an offence to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, and committed to the policy in its manifesto.
In a letter published in the British Medical Journal, 1,200 doctors, nurses and campaigners have urged new Prime Minister Keir Starmer and health secretary Wes Streeting to reintroduce the bill as an ‘immediate priority’ in the King’s Speech.
It says: ‘Labour cannot achieve its manifesto commitment to halve differences in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions unless it prioritises ending smoking.’
The authors, led by Action on Smoking and Health chair Nick Hopkinson, also stressed the importance of plans to prevent vapes being marketed to children, while ensuring that the devices remain accessible to adult smokers who are trying to quit smoking.
They added: ‘We are already three years behind where we would have been if the tough regulations on vaping that Labour tabled in 2021 had not been voted down by the then government.’
To find out more about what local government stakeholders want from the new government, check out our guide, Transforming Local Government: A Strategic Guide for Labour. Download your complimentary copy now!
