Yesterday (17th June 2024) was the UK King’s Speech in Parliament.
This sets out the framework of legislation which the government intend to enact in the upcoming parliament.
It is part of the State Opening of Parliament – which is the beginning of a new year (or session) in UK government.
The Speech is written by the government and delivered by the head of state. You can watch the full speech below or read the transcript here.
As this is the start of a new government with a Labour majority it is good to find out what the priorities will be.
How Does It Affect Vapers?
The reason the speech was important for vapers is the fact that it brought up the Tobacco and Vapes Bill proposed by the previous Conservative Government.
This had quite a few implications for vapers in addition to the rules prohibiting people born after a certain date ever being able to buy tobacco.
The bill was mentioned in the speech as follows…
“A Bill will be introduced to progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes [Tobacco and Vapes Bill].”
This is quite worrying for us vapers as there were mentions of restrictions of flavours.
Some of the legislation seems sensible in tackling youth vaping such as advertising restrictions and plain packaging and flavour descriptors.
I quote from the bill proposed by the previous government…
“The government will reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children by:
Providing powers for the government to regulate:
- the flavours and contents of vapes
- the retail packaging and product requirements of vapes
- the point of sale displays of vapes
- extending the existing offence to sell a nicotine vaping product to a person who is under the age of 18 to non-nicotine vapes for England and Wales
- introducing a ban on the free distribution of vapes to under 18s for England and Wales
- updating the existing vape notification system to align with future regulatory requirements
Vapes are defined in the bill to cover both nicotine and non-nicotine vapes. E-cigarettes are vaping products which contain nicotine.
The bill also gives powers to extend the measures outlined above to other nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches.”
But it does nothing to allay the worries of flavour restrictions. However it is not known if the bill will be amended by the new government or use the full bill inherited from the previous government. We will have to wait and see how it all pans out.
The NNA wrote to the UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting a few weeks ago to ask that adults are considered when it comes to regulating safer nicotine alternatives.
Responses
This has prompted various responses from different organisations which I will copy and paste below.
UKVIA
Press Release
King’s Speech Presents Opportunity to get The Tobacco and Vapes Bill Right
The UK Vaping Industry Association welcomes the King’s Speech announcement that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is back on the legislative agenda and trusts that the new administration will allow unfettered debate on this very important issue.
Rishi Sunak’s government tried to rush this bill through parliament, packed the committee scrutinising it with supportive voices only and refused to allow representatives of the UK’s 5.6m vapers to be heard.
John Dunne, Director General of the UKVIA, says:
“We hope that Health Secretary Wes Streeting will grasp the opportunity this bill presents to improve the health outcomes for millions of smokers by allowing vaping to fulfil its untapped potential to help adult smokers quit.
“This bill, if implemented with thought and care, could be the springboard to getting the country’s smoke-free ambitions back on track, after inaction from the last government caused it to slip backwards by a decade or more.
“The powers contained in this bill have the potential to cause either enormous good or enormous harm for the health outcomes of the nation and this is why our politicians must act with care to get it right.
“At its worst, it could lead to the ban of all flavoured vapes, the end of retail in-store displays and vape products hidden from view just like deadly cigarettes. This would be the worst possible outcome because restricting vape sales would encourage former smokers to return to cigarettes and open the floodgates for black market dealers to take over the supply chain and target vulnerable young people in the process.
“At best, it will give impetus to help the country’s 6.4m smokers finally quit cigarettes, prevent millions of unnecessary of deaths and save the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds in treatment costs.”
The UKVIA will be seeking to work closely with the government to ensure the nation gets the very best outcomes from the Tobacco and Vapes Bill by giving adult smokers the best opportunity to quit and protect young people from an age-gated product.
Adds Dunne: “This is why we feel it is vital that industry and consumer voices must be heard when the bill comes back before Parliament.”
The UKVIA is proposing a number of important amendments to the bill:
- The introduction of a vape retail and distributor licensing scheme which would prohibit rogue resellers from trading and provide £50m funding annually – at no cost to the Treasury – to support heightened enforcement by an under-resourced Trading Standards. The scheme will also impose fines of up to £10,000 per instance.
- Give the MHRA new powers to outlaw child-friendly imagery and packaging.
- Introduce statutory requirement for the Secretary of State to consult with any interested stakeholders prior to introducing any new regulations.
Dunne concluded:
“In its haste to rush this legislation through, the previous administration failed to consider any of these sensible and proportionate measures which would help smokers quit, protect young people and give much-needed funds to create a fit-for-purpose regulatory and enforcement framework moving forward.
“The UKVIA sincerely hopes that the new government and Wes Streeting as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and his department takes the time to get this right and does not fall into the trap of rushing it through as the Conservatives attempted to do.”
ENDS
WVA
Press Release
King’s Speech: Vape Bill – New Government, Old Mistakes
17 July 2024, London – During today’s King’s Speech, King Charles announced the new government’s plans to “impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes” by reintroducing an updated version of the Tobacco & Vapes Bill.
Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, commented:
“It is already clear that the generational smoking ban won’t work, because prohibitions never work. What makes the plan even worse is the crackdown on less harmful alternatives. Less harmful alternatives like vaping must be key elements of an anti-smoking strategy. Science and real-life examples like Sweden are proof. Harm reduction works, prohibition fails. The UK must not go down this path.”
Ignoring the evidence and pursuing failed policies will only lead to more harm and higher smoking rates.
We Vape
Mark Oates, founder of We Vape, said:
“This government has made it clear it will be reducing access to vapes, which is no surprise, but it is imperative that law abiding adults are not prevented from enjoying safer nicotine products.
“A vape licensing scheme, similar to the alcohol industry, would deter retailers from selling products to underage customers, and make it mandatory for all retailers and distributors to be licensed, with hefty fines and penalties for operating without one. Trading Standards would also be given the power to issue big, on-the-spot fines, seize stock and block retailers from obtaining a license if caught selling illicit products.
“No one wants children to vape. But this government must recognise this can easily be achieved without removing the freedoms from adults, and dooming smokers to an early grave by removing a smoking alternative so effective it is promoted by the NHS.”
