Ministers are facing mounting pressure to impose an outright ban on single-use vapes, amid concern about their rising popularity among children and wider worries that officials have minimal grip over a fast-moving sector.
While it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes to under-18s, some experts suggest as many as 15% of 11- to 15-year-olds use vapes, with Rishi Sunak saying this week he was worried that his daughters could be “seduced” by a heavily flavoured product often packaged in bright colours.
