The Tory cigarette rebellion will likely go up in smoke

Back when Rishi Sunak was trying to pitch himself as the change candidate, he used his party conference speech in October to announce three big policies: the scrapping of HS2, a ‘new Baccalaureate-style qualification’ to replace A-levels and a plan to create the first smoke free generation. The latter idea was inspired by a similar policy introduced in New Zealand by the Labour party that has since been scrapped after the conservative National party triumphed in the recent election. Despite this, Sunak plans to press on and today on a visit to a school will announce further measures to ‘protect children’s health’ when it comes to vapes.

The government plans to ban disposable vapes for everyone, following a consultation looking at the number of children taking up vaping. Recent figures suggest that the number of children using vapes over the past three years has tripled, with 9 per cent of 11 to 15 year-olds now using vapes.