It is sometimes said of the political Left that it wants everything to be filtered into three categories: free, illegal or obligatory. To which Rishi Sunak says: hold my Mexican Coke. The prime minister's proposal to ban young people from being ever able to legally smoke passed its first Commons hurdle last night, in the face of a decent-sized Tory rebellion.
MPs voted 383 to 67 to grant the Tobacco and Vapes Bill a second reading, which would make it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009. I don't know if any 15-year-olds read this newsletter (talk about a misspent youth), but bad lack.
In a healthcare system grappling with diseases of old age such as dementia or the consequences of obesity, concern about cigarettes might appear a bit of a throwback. It isn't. Smoking remains the single biggest cause of cancer and death. According to Cancer Research UK, it is responsible for an estimated 55,000 cancer deaths each year – more than a quarter of the total. So for a prime minister in search of a legacy, this Bill makes a lot of sense.
Not all of his colleagues agree. Last night's vote was a 'free' one, in that Tory MPs who voted against the government will not face punishment. Notably, that included the front runner to be next Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, who tweeted: “We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights.”
Most people aren't libertarian. (I am reminded of my favourite definition of libertarians: they are economically liberal but socially awkward.) Nor are they smokers (12.9 per cent of the over-18 population according to the ONS). The suspicion is that this Bill will go down as another piece of public health legislation that draws a combination of shrugs and horror from future generations who can't believe such a thing were ever allowed.
Think back to the cacophony of noise that greeted the ban on smoking in public places (2007), the seatbelt law (1983) of the road safety act (1967) which introduced the first maximum legal blood alcohol. All proven successes in protecting life.
At the same time, it is fair to point out that this Bill, which would treat citizens differently not depending on their age (we do that all the time) but on the year of their birth, represents something of a step-change. It is also important to note that it is unlikely to make much of a dent in NHS capacity, as people who live longer often require healthcare to treat complex and multi-causal diseases. Still, living longer must be considered a public policy success.
