Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, I am grateful to be allowed to speak in the gap.

Laws send social messages. My maiden speech was on the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill, introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. Having looked after so many people dying young, leaving children bereaved, through lung cancer and mouth cancers, as well as amputees so addicted to cigarettes that they sat in wheelchairs in the snow at the hospital entrance to smoke, I know that addiction is not a choice; it dominates people’s lives.

At that time, we never imagined the tobacco industry’s creativity, developing nicotine vapes with high levels of highly addictive nicotine salts in one disposable vape that is equal to two packs of cigarettes. The companies have seen a transfer of two-thirds of their customers from cigarettes to vapes long-term. Their profits remain. The number of never-regular-smoking vapers—that is, vapers who had never regularly smoked—using the highest strength e-liquids of over 20 milligrams per millilitre has increased dramatically, to almost 45% in 2023-24. Over 81% of those had been vaping for more than six months and over 67% for more than a year. These high levels deliberately promote addiction and alter biological function, and young vapers are now showing damaged lung function.

In sessions of Learn with the Lords, for some time now I have asked every class to vote on vaping and whether vapes should be banned. They overwhelmingly want a ban. In 2023, one in five children used a vape, often at school. Their young brains are particularly susceptible to addiction, and their behaviour changes.

As for our high streets, we promote addiction with vape shops, betting shops and booze shops. The “polluter pays” principle, as so well outlined already, could mean that they pay much higher rates than food and other shops.

The Bill is important. It can ensure that levels of toxins, including addictive nicotine in vapes, are limited, but we need to be alert to the creativity of the tobacco industry.