Health leaders and the public welcome the Tobacco and Vapes Bill back into Parliament.

The bill – to be introduced in the House of Commons today (5 November) – has had strong regional support since an initial proposal was put forward in October 2023.

If it becomes law, the local NHS and local councils say it will dramatically reduce smoking rates by prohibiting the sale of tobacco products (including cigarettes, cigars, and e-cigarettes) to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009. This ensures anyone under 15 in 2024 will never legally purchase tobacco, even as adults.

The new bill goes further than the last with:

• Further powers to regulate the design of vapes
• Ban on vape advertising and sponsorship
• Powers to create a retail licensing regime for the sale of tobacco and vapes
• Powers to extend smokefree legislation to further outdoor areas
• Powers to prohibit vaping in smokefree places

Tobacco is responsible for 2,541 premature deaths each year in the region – that’s seven lives lost every single day – along with 18,494 hospital admissions to treat smoking related illnesses.

Scott Crosby, Associate Director for the Humber and North Yorkshire Centre for Excellence in Tobacco Control says the bill will have a significant impact across the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) region, which covers Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, York, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire; areas which have some of the highest rates of smoking in the UK, compared to national averages.

“I am thrilled the bill has been reinstated and is progressing at pace,” he added. “Since its inception, the Humber and North Yorkshire Centre for Excellence in Tobacco Control has been steadfastly supportive, recognising that safeguarding our children from this harm is an investment in our nation’s future.

“Smoking is not a matter of free choice. Addiction deprives people of choice: two in three people who try one cigarette go on to become daily smokers, most of whom will regret ever starting.

“The inclusion of powers to extend smokefree legislation to outdoor places in the bill is a welcome addition. It’s our duty to protect children and vulnerable people from the harms of second-hand smoke, therefore we encourage everyone to take part in the public consultation to ensure the bill is robust and paves the way to a smokefree future.”

The Humber and North Yorkshire Centre for Excellence in Tobacco Control works in partnership with tobacco control leads across the region, including public health, local authorities, locally commissioned stop smoking services, hospital trusts and primary care colleagues, with unanimous support for the bill across the network.

Peter Roderick, Senior Responsible Officer for the Tobacco Programme in Humber and North Yorkshire ICS and Director of Public Health at City of York Council added: “Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable illness and death in England, responsible for 64,000 fatalities each year and killing two out of three smokers.

“We know that most people who smoke start young, regret ever starting and then struggle to quit. This is why it is vital to prevent our children and young people becoming addicted to this lethal product.

“The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is exactly the decisive action needed to reduce long term preventable illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, COPD and cardiovascular disease to help everyone live longer, healthier lives – tackling tobacco and the harms caused by secondhand smoke is the single most important public health intervention we can make.”

Figures show:

• Most smokers start as teenagers with 83% smoking before the age of 20 [2]
• ¾ of smokers would never have started if they had the choice again [2]
• Smokers who start younger have higher levels of tobacco dependency and suffer a worse risk of lung cancer and heart disease during their lives [3]

Hull City Councillor, Portfolio Holder for Adult Services and Public Health, Linda Chambers, has been a vocal advocate of the bill, not just because of the high smoking rates in Hull (18.9% compared to national average of 12.7%) [1] but also due to the devastating experience of losing her husband Mike to smoking related cardiovascular disease in July 2022.

“I am delighted to hear that the bill has been reintroduced and I am passionately supportive of a smokefree future,” she said.

“This is the best way we can save our NHS. One in four people come into hospital because of smoking related illness, they’re trapped in an addiction that’s damaging them. Not only does it cut years off people’s lives, but it also costs the NHS millions of pounds in treating the harms caused by tobacco.

“By doing everything we can to protect children from ever picking up that first cigarette, we save them, and everyone around them from the harm, destruction and death from tobacco”. 

See Linda’s story.

Gillian Cunningham is a Tobacco Dependency Treatment Advisor at York and Scarborough Hospital Trust lives with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) caused by tobacco use. She uses her experiences to help others to stay smokefree in hospital.

“I have been there, I know how hard it is to stop, even when you know it’s making you ill – you feel powerless to a lethal product,” she said. “I was 11 when I started smoking and diagnosed with stage 4 COPD at 38.

“I am passionate about helping other people understand there is a way out of this debilitating addiction, it’s a privilege to be able to share my experiences and help other people realise that they can too. Unless you’ve experienced being dependant on tobacco, it’s very hard to understand the control that it has over your life – even when you know it’s harming you.

“The only thing to do is phase smoking out – we have to do everything we can to protect future generations from getting stuck in the cycle of harm.”

Watch Gillian’s case study interview.