Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban clears its first Commons hurdle despite backlash to ‘nanny

Rishi Sunak‘s proposed smoking ban cleared its first parliamentary hurdle tonight as MPs voted by 383 to 67 to give their backing to the Prime Minister’s plans.

The House of Commons this evening overwhelmingly approved the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which aims to phase in a ban on the sale of tobacco products.

Mr Sunak, who views the ban as a key part of his long-term legacy, had allowed MPs a free vote on the issue.

But he will still be rocked by the fact 59 Tory MPs – including six Government ministers – actively opposed his plans, while many more abstained from voting.

A total of 165 Conservative MPs failed to back the PM’s Bill tonight, which was just under half the total of 347 Tory MPs in the Commons.

After the vote, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting swiped that it was ‘only thanks to Labour MPs’ that Mr Sunak saw his plans approved by the Commons.

‘Rishi Sunak put this Bill at risk by granting a free vote, because he is too weak to stand up to the Liz Truss-wing of his party,’ he said,

‘Labour first proposed a progressive ban on smoking more than a year ago, and it was only thanks to Labour MPs that this Bill passed.’

The Conservative rebellion tonight came after key figures on the Tory Right spoke out against the Bill.

They were led by Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who earlier became the first of Mr Sunak’s ministers to confirm they would vote against the smoking ban.

She said the legislation would ‘treat legally competent adults differently’ by bringing in an age limit on buying cigarettes that changed every year.

Ms Badenoch was joined in voting against the Bill by fellow Government ministers Steve Baker, Alex Burghart, Andrew Griffith, Julia Lopez and Lee Rowley.

The 59 Tory MPs to oppose the plans – including two ‘No’ tellers – also included ex-Cabinet ministers Suella Braverman, Sir Simon Clarke, Robert Jenrick, and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.

A further 106 Conservatives failed to record a vote tonight, meaning many will have actively abstained.

Those not voting included Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, and Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho.

Ms Badenoch is widely viewed as a leading contender to succeed Mr Sunak as party leader if the Tories lose the looming general election.

She and other ministers were able to defy the PM tonight without fear of being sacked due to Mr Sunak’s move to make the issue a ‘conscience vote’. 

Ms Badenoch’s intervention came after ex-PM Liz Truss – who has previously attacked the ‘nanny state’ plans – slammed Mr Sunak for ‘limiting freedom’.

Mr Sunak wants to ban tobacco sales to anybody born on or after January 1, 2009 – meaning children aged 15 or younger today will never legally be sold a cigarette in England. 

The PM’s Bill also gives the Government powers to tackle youth vaping, with restrictions on flavours and new rules on packaging and selling vapes.

Tory MPs voting against the Bill were joined by 7 DUP MPs, Reform Party MP Lee Anderson, and Workers Party of Britain MP George Galloway.

Some 178 Conservatives supported the Bill according to the list, alongside 160 Labour MPs, 31 SNP MPs, 5 Liberal Democrats, 3 Plaid Cymru MPs, 2 independents, and the Alliance Party’s Stephen Farry.

Ms Badenoch wrote on X ahead of tonight’s Commons vote: ‘I have significant concerns and appreciate the PM making this a free vote.

‘It gives me the opportunity to express my personal view, outside collective responsibility. The principle of equality under the law is a fundamental one. It underpins many of my personal beliefs.

‘We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights.

‘Among other reasons it will create difficulties with enforcement. This burden will fall not on the state but on private businesses.

‘Smoking rates are already declining significantly in the UK and I think there is more we can do to stop children taking up the habit.

‘However, I do not support the approach this bill is taking and so will be voting against it.’

Mr Jenrick, the former immigration minister, also confirmed his opposition to the PM’s plans prior to tonight’s Commons vote.

He said: ‘I believe in personal freedom. Let’s educate more and ban less.

‘I also believe in the principle of equality under the law. A phased ban of smoking would be an affront to that.

‘I will therefore vote against the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. I respect those who disagree. The proponents have good intentions.

‘I’ve seen the harmful effects of smoking in my own family, so I understand their perspective.

‘But the best way to reduce smoking is to continue to educate, not a ban that will prove a nightmare to enforce.’

During tetchy exchanges in the Commons earlier, as MPs debated Mr Sunak’s proposed smoking ban, Ms Truss swiped that the Government was ‘infantilising’ Brits by taking away their choice.

Stressing that she was not a supporter of smoking, she said she was ‘disappointed’ that the Tory administration thought the ‘state knows best’.

Ms Truss said Labour was the right home for ‘finger-wagging, nannying control freaks’.

The intervention came as Labour’s shadow health secretary West Streeting gloated that Ms Truss and her allies were right to brand the proposals ‘un-Conservative’. 

He said he was ‘delighted’ to support the measures after they were ‘adopted’ by Mr Sunak.

Mr Sunak plans to ensure anyone currently aged 15 or younger will never be able to buy a cigarette legally.

The PM has insisted it is right to protect children, while Chief Medical Office Chris Whitty dismissed criticism of the ban by saying many people cannot give up after becoming addicted.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins kicked off this afternoon’s Commons debate by insisting that smoking was causing huge suffering.

She told MPs: ‘I totally understand the concerns of fellow Conservatives.

‘We are not in the habit of banning things, we do not like that, and so we will only bring these powers in when we are convinced, following a no doubt robust debate with the intellectual self-confidence that we have to have such debates on this side of the House… we come to the conclusion that there is no liberty in addiction.

‘Nicotine robs people of their freedom to choose. The vast majority of smokers start when they are young, and three-quarters say that if they could turn back the clock they would not have started.’

She added: ‘That is why, through this Bill, we are creating a smoke-free generation that will guarantee that no-one who is turning 15 or younger this year will ever be legally sold tobacco, saving them from the misery of repeated attempts to give up, making our economy more productive and building an NHS that delivers faster, simpler and fairer care.

‘I would argue it is our responsibility, indeed our duty, to protect the next generation and this is what this Bill will do.’

But Ms Truss said the policy was ’emblematic of a technocratic establishment in this country that wants to limit people’s freedom’.

She added: ‘The problem is the instinct of this establishment, which is reflected by a cross-party consensus today in today’s chamber, is to believe that they, that the Government are better at making decisions for people than people themselves and I absolutely agree that that is true for the under 18s.

‘It is very important that until people have decision-making capability while they are growing up that we protect them. But I think the whole idea that we can protect adults from themselves is hugely problematic and it effectively infantilises people, and that is what has been going on.

‘And what we’re seeing, is we’re seeing not just on tobacco but also on sugar, also on alcohol, also on meat, a group of people who want to push an agenda which is about limiting people’s personal freedom, and I think that is fundamentally wrong.’

Conservative MP Alexander Stafford said the Government should not be ‘wasting our time talking about something that’s dying out anyway’, adding: ‘Young people aren’t smoking, it is not cool to smoke… what this Bill should be focused on is more on the vape side of things, on the illegal vapes, the super-charged vapes, the colourful, the flavourful vapes.

‘Instead, we are sitting here debating cigarettes that are naturally being gone out of existence anyway.’

But Ms Atkins replied: ‘Sadly, there is nothing inevitable about a decrease in smoking rates. Indeed in 2020, the United States saw the first increase in tobacco sales in 20 years and in Australia in 2022, the proportion of teenagers smoking increased for the first time in 25 years.’

She added: ‘Here in the United Kingdom, 100,000 children and young people take up smoking every year and so we must not be lulled into this sense of inevitability and security.’

Earlier, former Cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke said he is ‘both sceptical and downright opposed’ to the plans.

‘There are good ways to tackle a problem like this and then there are bad ways, and I think that an outright ban risks being counterproductive, I think it actually risks making smoking cooler, it certainly risks creating a black market, and it also risks creating a unmanageable challenge for the authorities,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Sir Simon said education and the tax system should be used as tools to deter people from smoking.

Asked about opinion polls which show that two-thirds of people in Britain back a phased smoking ban – a figure which extends to 70 per cent among those who voted Conservative in 2019, Sir Simon said: ‘There are some things, of course, which are not necessarily philosophically or practically right which would command support in the opinion polls.

‘I think probably if you were to do an opinion poll on bringing back hanging you’d find that there was a significant proportion of people who backed it, that wouldn’t necessarily mean it was the right thing to do.’

Former PM Boris Johnson has branded the plan ‘absolutely nuts’, saying last week: ‘We’re banning cigars. What is the point of banning – the party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars… Donnez moi un break, as they say in Quebec. It’s just mad.’ 

The Government believes creating a ‘smokefree generation’ could prevent more than 470,000 cases of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and other deadly diseases by the turn of the century. 

Professor Whitty said: ‘Smoking kills and causes harm at all stages of life from stillbirths, asthma in children, stroke, cancer to heart attacks and dementia.

‘This Bill, if passed, will have a substantial impact – preventing disease, disability and premature deaths long into the future.’