Shop owners could be made to enforce annual increases in tobacco age limits under Rishi Sunak’s newly announced plan to phase out smoking.

In the prime minister’s speech at the Conservative party conference in Manchester on 4 October, he announced proposals to raise the legal age to buy cigarettes by one year, every year, from the current minimum age of 18 years old. If implemented, it would mean a child aged 14 in 2023 will never be able to legally buy tobacco products.

A free vote in parliament will determine the outcome of the plans, though most parties are expected to back the move.

Sunak told conference attendees: “If we want to do the right thing for our kids, we must try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place.

“Because without a significant change, thousands of children will start smoking in the coming years and have their lives cut short.

“Four in five smokers have started by the time they’re 20. Later, the vast majority try to quit, but many fail because they’re addicted.”

A similar law was passed in New Zealand last year.

One in nine people between the ages of 18 and 24 currently smoke, according to the Office for National Statistics, which generates millions of pounds in revenue for retailers each year.

Vaping products also face restrictions, with Sunak telling conference attendees that the government would consider limiting the flavours, packaging, and sale of disposable vapes.

However, there was no mention of an outright ban of the products. A government call for evidence on youth vaping to consider the measures described in Sunak’s speech is already underway.

Unlike previous tobacco restrictions that spawned intense lobbying against the measures, industry reaction to the tobacco restrictions was muted, with the ACS vowing to “work with the government on how this policy will be implemented and enforced”.

Rumoured disposable vape ban to cost stores thousands of pounds

The changes to vaping were met with more concern. The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) has warned that a disposable vape ban amidst the government’s legal smoking age increase could result in a rise in sales of illegal smoking products, as well as jeopardise its smoke-free 2030 target.  

Marcus Saxton, chair of the IBVTA said: “If this is going to work, then smokers need proven pathways off their addiction. All the evidence shows that single use products are a crucial first step to getting smokers off tobacco particularly in disadvantaged communities with high levels of smoking where, because of their ease of use, they are an effective smoking cessation tool.

“Undermining these products risks undermining the government’s ambitions for a smoke-free England and to phase out tobacco use.

“As an industry, we recognise that youth vaping needs to be tackled and we stand-ready to work with government and towards this and we welcome wider consultation on the industry.

“Rather than the knee-jerk introduction of new regulations, existing legislation should be properly enforced, and responsible manufacturers and retailers properly supported, rather than reaching for the blunt instrument of policy measures that could have damaging consequences.”

Welcoming of new legislation

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We welcome further consultation on vaping products and hope the government will look carefully at increasing funding for enforcement activity to prevent underage sales and stamp out the sale of illegal vapes.”

Health groups welcomed the potential tobacco age changes.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity Action on Smoking and Health, said the smoking age increase protects “the next generation” and it will “hasten the day when smoking is obsolete”.

“Children are four times as likely to start smoking if they grow up with smokers, and once they do it’s highly addictive and difficult to quit,” she said. 

MP Bob Blackman CBE, chairman of the all-party parliamentary groups on smoking and health, said: “We congratulate the prime minister for sending a clear message in his speech today that this government is determined to deliver a smoke-free future for our children.”