Draft Tobacco and Related Products (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023

Debbie Abrahams Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2023 General Committees

[Neil O'Brien]

We have driven down smoking rates in England to a record low—from about 40% in the 1970s to about 20% in 2010 and down to a record low of 13% today. We have done that partly by doubling excise duties and partly by introducing a minimum excise on the cheapest cigarettes.

We continue to move forward in our efforts to cut smoking. I recently set out plans to give all women who smoke during pregnancy new incentives to quit smoking, and plans to give 1 million smokers help to “swap to stop” with free vaping kits. The Government are taking determined action to drive down rates of smoking, and we will keep all measures about comparability between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK under review.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

The Minister has not responded to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for York Central.

[Neil O'Brien]

Which point?

[Debbie Abrahams]

The point about the inequalities that there will be between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and whether there has been an assessment of them. I gently remind the Minister that it was a Labour Government that introduced smoke-free zones and ensured that people were protected from second-hand smoking. The Government need to recognise that.

[Neil O'Brien]

We keep all those things under review. Flavourings in heated tobacco are a relatively niche issue, but of course we will look at the regulation of those things. The mainstay of our policy is raising tax on cigarettes, which has driven down smoking rates, and using vapes, but not heated tobacco, as a potential substitute to get people off smoking.

I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.