Draft Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Alex Norris Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 General Committees

[Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell, for the first time. As the Minister said, we discussed similar regulations yesterday, and we are heading for a third bout in our series tomorrow, which is proving so juicy that it will held in the main Chamber. So something for everyone.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

The rumble in the jungle.

[Alex Norris]

Quite. I made that joke yesterday.

[Matt Western]

If only I had been there.

[Alex Norris]

Exactly; that’s what all they all said. It is a challenge not to repeat the content, especially not my gags, although some points may bear repeating. The regulations were the subject of very good exchanges in the other place yesterday, which as well as covering the minutiae of the subject also addressed important points about general tobacco control. I may refer to those exchanges briefly, but first I should like to echo what my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson), said 18 months ago when debating the 2019 regulations. She outlined how dangerous it was that so much planning was needed for a no-deal scenario, and yet there was so little clarity on a no deal at that point. She warned that with 18 months to go, it was far too close to the deadline not to know where we were going. Well, we are now 60 days away, and we still know very little more. That is concerning: the Government need to get the deal that was promised to the British people, otherwise there will be significant disruption.

As the Minister said, the 2020 regulations amend the 2019 regulations, and implement the Northern Ireland protocol of the withdrawal agreement to ensure that the UK meets its obligations on tobacco control policy under that agreement. They will ensure consistency between the requirements relating to tobacco products placed on the market before and after the end of the implementation period, change the fees payable by producers when reporting information about their products in order to account for such amendments in Northern Ireland and ensure that tobacco control legislation continues to work effectively at the end of the implementation period. To that end, I will not be forcing a Division on the SI, because we do not want to render the nation’s tobacco control policies ineffective. However, I want some reassurance on the Northern Ireland aspects and the smoke-free agenda generally.

As per the withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland is obliged to rely on specific EU rules, but looking at the bigger picture, time is running out for the Government to implement the remaining elements of the protocol. Any update on when that is likely to happen would be helpful, because proper implementation is vital to the protection of the Good Friday agreement.

Whatever happens in terms of these regulations, and our exit from the EU, that must not slow down our journey towards smoking cessation. I live in and represent one of the most challenged communities on health inequalities in the UK, and half of our health inequality is smoking based. We could remove half of health inequalities at a stroke by achieving that smoke-free goal. To me, that is an absolute priority project for Government. If they want to talk about levelling up, smoke cessation is perhaps the best thing that could be done to achieve that. The Minister made an accurate, well-expressed point about the cross-party record on declining smoking rates in the past couple of decades, and we should all be proud of that. However, smoking still remains the biggest preventable cause of cancer and death. There is an awful human cost, as well as the treatment costs of £2.4 billion each year – cutting smoking represents a really big prize to us.

It was interesting to note the Cancer Research UK report, ‘Making Conversation Count’, which set out the health and economic benefits of improving smoking cessation support in UK general practice. It is worth a read, and I would be interested in the Minister’s reflections on it. Before I draw attention to couple of the report’s highlights, I want to make a broader point about smoking cessation.

Local authorities have been under exceptional financial challenges for a decade. We could have a big political conversation about the necessity or otherwise of that, but I am less interested in that today. What we know for sure, however, is that those challenges have led to a diminution in smoking cessation services. Those services are strongly evidence-backed, and save us money in the long run. It is the falsest of false economies that hard-pressed local authorities are having to make. That matters today, beyond the fact that in itself it is a bad thing, because as councils deal with the impact of covid—it is clear that the total cost to each and everyone of our local authorities will not be met by central Government and that that initial promise will not be met—they will have to make difficult decisions. I know that in Nottingham, and I suspect this will happen across the country, we will see in-year budgets. They are horrendous not least because to try to get a 12-month saving from a six-month budget means that councils have to cut twice as much. Councils can try to finesse reserves, but they are in short supply. I am very concerned, and I hope that the Department are keeping a watchful eye on the aggregate impact on smoking cessation services in this country. If we lose them, we will face significant challenges. I sense that I am in danger of my comments being ruled out of the scope of the regulations. Am I?

[The Chair]

Possibly; I am sure that you will return right back to the regulations.

[Alex Norris]

I am on the edge; I am coming back to the substance of the regulations, and how important it is that we do not weaken our approach to the smoke- free agenda. The Cancer Research UK report is worth reading. The target of being smoke-free by 2030 is equivalent to less than 5% of adults still smoking, which could prevent more than 400,000 smoking-related diseases, 90,000 premature deaths and 10 billion quids-worth of smoking-related health care costs. The price for us is significant.

To pivot back to the regulations, I want to refer particularly to the ban on tobacco products with characterising flavours. Those regulations came into force five months ago, but those products are still being produced and made available for sale. I understand that the Minister’s Department has instructed an investigation into that, which is welcome, but my sources tell me—I would love to be told that I am wrong, because I think it is extraordinary—that actually we waiting for the European Commission to make a decision on the matter. Does that mean that it is now Government policy that when we come to these regulations, and others, it is likely that we will wait for the EU to act and then we will take mirror action? If so, we will have lost our voice in that institution, just to wait to mirror it daily. I do not think that was what people were enthusiastic for, and certainly was not sold as a benefit of leaving the EU. I would be grateful to receive a commitment from the Minister that that is not so.

We will be in a much stronger position once we have a deal, and it is worrying that we are considering these regulations at a time of such uncertainty, when we still do not know whether a deal will be reached. The regulations before us underpin and are fundamental to the bigger prize of smoking cessation by 2030. I know that the Minister is committed to pushing us towards that, and I mirror that by saying that I am committed to reaching that target when we are in government in the latter half of the decade.