{"id":48756,"date":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48756"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","slug":"uk-lawmakers-approve-lifetime-smoking-ban-for-todays-under-18s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48756","title":{"rendered":"UK lawmakers approve lifetime smoking ban for today&#8217;s under-18s"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Children in Britain who are 17 or younger, \u200cand anyone born in the future, will never be able to legally buy cigarettes after lawmakers approved new stricter restrictions on smoking.<\/p>\n<p>The Tobacco and Vapes Bill raises the legal age for buying tobacco by one \u200byear, every year, starting with people born on or after January 1, 2009, meaning \u200baffected age groups face a lifetime ban.<\/p>\n<p>The law, which is due to receive \u2060royal assent next week, also tightens controls on vaping, including banning sales of vaping \u200band nicotine products to under\u201118s and restricting advertising, displays, free distribution and discounting.<\/p>\n<p>The government said the \u200bmeasures would help reduce smoking and prevent young people from becoming addicted to nicotine, easing long-term pressure on the National Health Service (NHS).<\/p>\n<p>Read More: Vaping, chewing tobacco: health risks lurk, awareness falls short<\/p>\n<p>Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the approval of the bill was a historic moment for \u200bthe nation&#8217;s health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Children in the UK will be part of the first smoke-free generation, protected \u200bfrom a lifetime of addiction and harm,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Prevention is better than cure \u2014\u00a0this reform will save lives, \u200cease \u2060pressure on the NHS, and build a healthier Britain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Smoking causes about 64,000 deaths and 400,000 hospital admissions a year in England, according to official estimates, and costs the NHS around three\u00a0billion pounds ($4b) annually, with wider economic costs exceeding 20b pounds.<\/p>\n<p>Tighter rules on vaping <\/p>\n<p>Vaping has \u200balso become a focus \u200bfor policymakers, especially over \u2060concerns about youth uptake and nicotine addiction. The government banned the sale of single-use or disposable vapes last year over concerns about youth use \u200band environmental damage.<\/p>\n<p>The new legislation will tighten those rules, with ministers gaining \u200bpowers to \u2060regulate the flavours and packaging of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products through secondary legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Also Read: Ban on vape, e-cigarettes for under-18s on the cards<\/p>\n<p>Around 10% of adults in Great Britain \u2014\u00a0an estimated 5.5 million people \u2014\u00a0use vapes, according to health charity Action on \u2060Smoking \u200band Health, with levels broadly unchanged since 2024, suggesting \u200bgrowth has begun to plateau.<\/p>\n<p>About half of the people who vape were former smokers, while around 40% continue to smoke alongside \u200bvaping, the charity said.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Children in Britain who are 17 or younger, \u200cand anyone born in the future, will never be able to legally buy cigarettes after lawmakers approved new stricter restrictions on smoking. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill raises the legal age for buying tobacco by one \u200byear, every year, starting with people born on or after January [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}