Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Lord Dodds of Duncairn Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP)]

My Lords, I am firmly in favour of legislation to reduce the harmful effects of smoking. More than 2,000 people in Northern Ireland die every year from illnesses associated with smoking. More than 1,000 die each year from lung cancer, accounting for 23% of all cancer-related deaths. I cite these figures in relation to the suffering they represent in Northern Ireland to demonstrate that we need measures in this legislation that will apply right across our United Kingdom. I am concerned that they may not do so, for reasons I will elaborate on in a few moments. We also need proposals that are workable, evidence-based and capable of addressing the harm caused by smoking.

The main practical problem, as we know, is enforcement. The main burden of enforcement will fall on retailers, particularly small shopkeepers. Many retailers—we have listened to their evidence and heard their representations—work long hours providing a service to their communities. They and their staff, some of whom will be young people, are going to have to differentiate between people in middle age. There is a real fear among many of them about the effects on their security and safety and that it risks criminalising shopkeepers rather than those seeking to purchase tobacco illegally. I am sure that these issues can be addressed in Committee.

As has been mentioned, the significant level of illicit trade in cigarettes and tobacco is already a particular problem in Northern Ireland because of the involvement of criminal gangs and paramilitaries on both sides. What assurances can the Government give that they will continue to drive down the illegal trade in tobacco at the same time as this legislation?

As I said, I want to highlight a potentially significant failing in the Bill as drafted. As your Lordships will know, the EU continues to have full authority in Northern Ireland over 300 areas of the economy and other matters, and the relevant laws concerning many aspects of our day-to-day life. One specific provision that applies in Northern Ireland is the EU’s second tobacco products directive. Its purpose is to set out the various requirements that must be met for tobacco and vape products to be sold in the EU. It requires that there should be free movement within the EU of tobacco products that satisfy its requirements.

The Government have described this as a four-nation Bill, but it appears to me and many commentators that the Bill is incompatible with the tobacco directive as far as Northern Ireland is concerned, since the Bill purports to introduce a restriction on the placing of tobacco products on the market in Northern Ireland. The Irish Republic, subject to exactly the same directive, did not pursue a generational smoking ban explicitly because of the directive, instead introducing legislation to raise the minimum age for the sale of tobacco products to 21. Denmark also considered introducing a generational smoking ban in 2022, and its Health Minister announced that the tobacco directive prevented the Danish Government introducing the ban. So I fear that, unless there is a provision in the legislation that excludes the application of the tobacco directive in respect of Northern Ireland, it may well be the case that the generational smoking ban that we want to see applied across the United Kingdom cannot apply in part of the United Kingdom.

The Government have stated—and no doubt the Minister will say in response today—that they have considered all their domestic and international obligations. One such obligation is the implementation of the protocol/Windsor Framework, but that very framework requires Northern Ireland to abide by the tobacco directive. The protocol/Windsor Framework, by virtue of Section 7A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, rules supreme over UK legislation. It takes precedence. That has been decided in court case after court case in Northern Ireland, whether it be on legacy matters, such as the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act, or in respect of immigration matters, such as the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024. In those cases the Government gave the same sort of assurances that they gave in the other place on this issue, yet the courts ruled otherwise, as we predicted they would.

I hope that in response to this debate the Minister can clarify the matter, give a guarantee that the Bill will apply across all parts of the United Kingdom and indicate that the Government are prepared, if necessary, to ensure a four-nation, UK-wide approach to override the application of the tobacco directive. This is an important practical measure that affects the health of everyone across the United Kingdom, with not only constitutional implications but practical health implications.