Published10 hours agocommentsCommentsShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Kate Whannel & Sam FrancisPolitical reporters, BBC NewsMPs have backed a plan to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes, effectively ensuring it will become law.The measures, championed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, survived despite opposition from several leading Tory figures – including two ex-PMs.Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told MPs “there is no liberty in addiction” as she defended the plans.The Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed by 383 votes to 67.If they become law, the UK’s smoking laws will be among the strictest in the world.The UK’s approach is thought to have been inspired by a similar law in New Zealand, which was later repealed after a change in government.Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Atkins said the plan would create a “smoke free generation”.However, several Tory MPs, including former prime minister Liz Truss, voted against the bill, arguing it would limit personal freedom.Last week, ex-prime minster Boris Johnson called the smoking ban “absolutely nuts” during a speech at a Conservative conference in Ottawa, Canada.”When the party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars, donnez-moi un break as they say in Quebec, it’s just mad,” he said.Read more about the smoking banWill Rishi Sunak’s plan to ban smoking in UK work?Sunak’s smoking ban is nuts, says Boris Johnson Smoking ban for those born after 2009 moves aheadA quick guide to smoking bans across the worldShould vaping have same restrictions as tobacco?Conservative MPs were given a free vote on the bill, meaning they were not ordered to vote with the government. But full support by Labour’s front bench ensured the measures passed. There are still several more steps needed before it becomes law, such as votes in the House of Lords, but it is possible that the bill could now become law before the general election, expected in the second half of 2024.Labour’s shadow health and social care secretary Wes Streeting accused Mr Sunak of “putting the bill at risk” by granting a free vote “because he is too weak to stand up to the Liz Truss-wing of his party”.”If we are privileged enough to form the next government, Labour will implement this ban, so young people today are even less likely to smoke than they are to vote Conservative,” he added.In total, 178 Tory MPs voted to support the plan but 57 voted against, including Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Conservative Party Deputy Chair Jonathan Gullis. Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan also signalled her opposition but ultimately abstained on the vote.She was one of some 106 Tories listed as having “no vote recorded”, including Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons.Not all those listed in this way will have abstained, as some will have received permission to miss the vote.Lee Anderson, an ex-deputy chair of the Conservative Party who defected to Reform UK last month, also voted against the bill. Mr Sunak used his conference speech in October of last year to unveil his plans to ban people born after 1 January 2009 from buying tobacco products. ‘Free society’The debate on Tuesday was MPs’ first chance to debate the legislation implementing the ban.Ms Truss was one of the first to speak against the bill, telling the House of Commons it risked infantilising people. “It is very important that until people have decision-making capability while they are growing up that we protect them but I think the whole idea that we can protect adults from themselves is hugely problematic.”Her concern was echoed by some of her fellow Conservative MPs.Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, tipped as a potential contender to run for the Tory leadership, also came out against the policy.On social media he said he was against the bill because he “believes in personal freedom”.”I also believe in the principle of equality under the law. A phased ban of smoking would be an affront to that,” he added.Former minister Sir Jake Berry said he was more concerned about “the addiction of the government to telling people what to do” than he was about people addicted to nicotine. “I want to live in a free society where I am free to make both good and bad decisions.”Ms Atkins said she understood their concerns about “banning things” but defended the bill arguing: “Nicotine robs people of their freedom to choose.””The vast majority of smokers start when they are young, and three quarters say that if they could turn back the clock they would not have started.”Earlier in the day, England’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty said once people become addicted to smoking “their choice is taken away”.He said: “When I was a junior doctor doing surgery I remember the tragedy of seeing people, whose legs had had to be cut off because of the smoking that had damaged their arteries, outside the hospital weeping as they lit up because they were trapped by addiction – that is not choice.”Tobacco use is the UK’s single biggest preventable cause of death, killing two-thirds of long-term users and causing 80,000 deaths every year.On top of that, a patient is admitted to hospital with a smoking-related condition, such as heart disease, strokes and lung cancer, almost every minute in England.The bill also aims to make vapes less appealing to children, with new restrictions on flavours and packaging. Trading standards officers would also get new powers to issue on-the-spot £100 fines to shops selling tobacco or vapes to children, with all the money raised going towards further enforcement.Figures show that one in five children has tried vaping despite it being illegal for under-18s, while the number of children using vapes has tripled in the past three years.More on this storyWhat is the smoking ban and how will it work?Published13 hours agoDisposable bans will not work, says vape bossPublished26 MarchSunak’s smoking ban is nuts, says Boris JohnsonPublished5 days ago

Published5 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingThis video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.By Kate Whannel & Sam FrancisPolitical reporterEntering lockdown three weeks earlier would have cut deaths in the first Covid wave by 90%, former health secretary Matt Hancock has said.Mr Hancock told the Covid inquiry that with the benefit of hindsight the UK should have locked down much sooner.He also said a “toxic culture” existed in government driven by Dominic Cummings, the PM’s chief advisor.But he denied accusations he lied to colleagues during the pandemic.Mr Cummings – who left No 10 in December 2020 after falling out with then PM Boris Johnson – has been particularly scathing of Mr Hancock.Offered a chance to respond, Mr Hancock called Mr Cummings a “malign actor” who subjected Health Department staff to abuse as they grappled with the emergence of Covid.He argued it was having to do the work of other departments, for example on school closures, and that its “hard work” was hindered by “a toxic culture that we had to work with”.He said Mr Cummings sought to grab power from Mr Johnson while shutting out ministers from key meetings.There was an “unhelpful” assumption that “when anything was difficult or a challenge… there was somehow fault and blame”, Mr Hancock said.The West Suffolk MP was health secretary from 2018 until June 2021, when he was forced to resign after breaching Covid guidance.He was suspended as a Conservative MP, after appearing on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2022 and later said he would not stand for re-election.More on Covid and the Covid InquiryLIVE: Follow the latest updates from the Covid inquiryWhat is the UK Covid inquiry and how long will it take?How inquiry is exposing deep flaws in Covid decision-makingThe private WhatsApp messages from inside Downing StreetWhat to do if you have Covid: Can you go to work or school?During his testimony Mr Hancock said “many, many lives” could have been saved if the UK government had initiated the first coronavirus lockdown around 2 March 2020, rather than 23 March.However, he stressed that there was still “enormous uncertainty” and only 12 cases had been identified in the country by this point.He told the inquiry he was speaking with “hindsight” and robustly defended his role in the pandemic and that of the department he led.”From the middle of January, we were trying to effectively raise the alarm,” he said, adding: “We were trying to wake up Whitehall to the scale of the problem.”Not ‘adequate’Pushed on when he advised Mr Johnson that immediate action would be needed to contain the virus, Mr Hancock said he raised the alarm bell on 13 March.However, the inquiry’s lawyer, Hugo Keith KC, questioned the statement, noting that this was not mentioned in the entry for 13 March in Mr Hancock’s book, Pandemic Diaries. Mr Hancock replied that the evidence only came to light after his diary was published and cited an email he sent the prime minister calling for a “suppression strategy”. Mr Keith argued that this did not amount to calling for an immediate lockdown.Asked about the existence of pre-prepared plans for a pandemic, Mr Hancock said they existed but repeated his previous assertion that they were not “adequate”.Mr Hancock will continue his evidence on Friday. Mr Johnson will give evidence to the inquiry on 6 and 7 December. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is also expected to give evidence before the end of the year.Image source, EPAThe inquiry has been bruising for the politician, with past witnesses accusing Mr Hancock of “nuclear levels” of overconfidence and a lack of honesty.Helen MacNamara, a senior civil servant during the pandemic, said he would say things that would turn out not to be the case.Sir Patrick Vallance, the former chief scientific adviser, said Mr Hancock had “a habit of saying things which he didn’t have a basis for”. Mr Hancock said there was no “evidence whatsoever” that he lied during the pandemic. In the session, the inquiry was shown extracts from Sir Patrick’s diary which described a “massive internal mess” inside the health department and reported that then-civil service head Sir Mark Sedwill complained of the department’s “clear lack of grip”.Government responseMr Hancock has been criticised for saying in the early days of the pandemic that a “protective ring” had been thrown around care homes.He said he used that phrase to refer to actions including giving the sector £3bn and providing protective equipment. However, he appeared to agree with suggestions that the protections did not amount to “an unbroken circle”.He also told the inquiry that he did not know about the “Eat Out to Help Out scheme” – whereby the government subsidised people to go to restaurants in the summer of 2020 – until the day it was announced.He acknowledged he had concerns about how it impacted infection rates, however he said he did not express those publicly because he abided by “collective responsibility”. ‘Greatest regret’Mr Hancock was also questioned about apparently contradictory evidence on when the government knew people without symptoms could transmit the virus. Referring to a report by the US’s Centre for Disease Control, he said there was not clear evidence until the beginning of April and up to then he had been advised not to base policy on the assumption that transmission could be asymptomatic. Mr Hancock said it was his “single greatest regret with hindsight” that he didn’t overrule the advice.”I was in the pro-let’s worry about asymptomatic transmission camp. The frustration was that, understandably from their point of view, and here I’m putting myself in their shoes, the Public Health England scientists said we have not got concrete evidence.”The inquiry was shown messages between Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick in which they suggest the government had known about asymptomatic transmission. Posting on X as the inquiry was going on, Mr Cummings said Mr Hancock was “talking rubbish”.More on this storyUK’s pandemic strategy was wrong, says HancockPublished27 JuneRaab denies Cummings made key pandemic decisionsPublished6 days agoHow inquiry is exposing deep flaws in Covid decision-makingPublished26 November