Britain's lifetime smoking ban set to become law

Britain's plans to ban future generations from buying cigarettes will become law this week, ushering in a policy still overshadowed by questions over how effective it will be in stopping smoking.

Lawmakers last week approved the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which introduces a rolling age restriction permanently barring anyone born on or after Jan 1, 2009 from buying cigarettes.

Due to receive royal assent - the final stage of the legislative process - this week, the laws also tighten rules on vaping and other nicotine products, particularly around marketing and display.

Gradual Change, Divided Views

In London, people were split on whether it would work.

"I think it's important to ban it for teenagers and young kids," 21-year-old student Minola Slaveschi said on Monday. "There's just way too many at the moment vaping and smoking on the streets."

Harry Jordan, a 23-year-old tennis player, said people would find another way to access the products and that it would not solve the issues.

"People are going to smoke regardless," Mehmet, a shopkeeper in east London, told Reuters, standing in front of a row of brightly coloured vapes.

The bill raises the legal age for buying tobacco by one year, every year, starting with people born in and after 2009, meaning affected age groups face a lifetime ban.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the public health charity that has long pushed for tougher tobacco controls, estimates smoking among 16- and 17-year-olds is already low and says that will make the policy easier to phase in.

"The genius of this policy is that it starts small, but gains impact over time," Hazel Cheeseman, ASH's chief executive, said. It could prevent a "large amount of death" over decades, she added.

Government modelling suggests smoking rates among the affected age groups would eventually fall close to zero, easing pressure on Britain's health system and pushing smoking into older generations.

Choice is 'Important to Me'

The tobacco ban does not cover vapes, but the law gives ministers wide powers to regulate flavours, packaging, product names and point-of-sale displays, measures the government says are intended to deter under-18s and non-smokers.

Cheeseman said those controls were central to making the generational ban work.

But some young adults remain uneasy about the principle of a permanent age divide, and not being able to choose for themselves.

"I get the idea of making it harder for young people to get tobacco," said Cosi Wider, a 23-year-old assistant film producer who quit smoking. "But to have the choice to do it or to not do it, I feel like that's quite important to me."