During a speech this Tuesday, November 7 in front of Parliament, the King of England Charles III promised the end of the sale of cigarettes among young people by 2030 in the United Kingdom.
This Tuesday, October 7, King Charles III of England held his first “King’s Speech” before Parliament. On this occasion, he was to present the Government’s new legislative program. If he returned to several current issues, such as the Covid-19 epidemic, the war in Ukraine or inflation, he also wanted to confirm that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would launch a historic crackdown against smoking in link with its desire for a “tobacco-free generation”.
“We must tackle the largest, entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability and death. And that is smoking in our country. Smoking causes one in four cancer deaths,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously indicated. “People start smoking when they are young. Four out of five smokers started smoking before the age of 20. Later, the vast majority try to stop. But many fail because they are addicted and wish they had never gotten into the habit in the first place,” he continues.
If today in the United Kingdom, the sale of tobacco can only be made to adults, in his speech, Charles III confirmed the entry into force of an even stronger measure, proposed by Rishi Sunak, allowing the sale of cigarettes to be gradually banned. “I propose that in future we increase the smoking ban age by one year each year. This means that today, a 14-year-old will never be legally sold a cigarette” even when he is an adult, the Prime Minister specifies in his speech.
If the bill has not yet been revealed according to our colleagues at The Telegraph, it could well resemble the law implemented in New Zealand. It prevents anyone born after January 1, 2009 from being able to buy cigarettes, even when they have reached the age of 18. Thus, for the United Kingdom, if the text were to be adopted, by 2027, anyone aged 14 or under will never be able to legally purchase a cigarette again in the future.
This article is originally published on .egora.fr
