Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Lord Moylan Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 3rd March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, Amendment 123 is in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Northover. When in Committee my noble friend tabled an amendment to prevent companies advertising vapes in a way that attracted children, the Minister’s response was that this was not necessary because advertising of vapes would be banned under the Bill except for public health purposes as a smoking cessation tool. In that case they would not be allowed to be advertised in a way that attracted children, and our amendment was therefore not necessary.

Having accepted the Minister’s point, we turned our attention to the packaging itself and point of sale display materials, because we know that the companies trying to sell vapes to people who have never smoked before will stop at nothing to hook people into nicotine addiction. That is why we have proposed that vapes must be sold in plain packaging like cigarettes and not displayed with attractive materials at point of sale. A recent UCL study showed that implementing plain packaging for vapes reduced their appeal to young people but did not affect how harmful adults perceive vapes to be compared with cigarettes. In particular, the paper noted that:

“Packaging is a primary marketing tool for vape companies”,


and that

“it is commonplace for brands to also use youth-appealing elements, such as images, cartoon characters, stylised fonts, and novel brand and flavour names on vapes and e-liquid packaging”.

We therefore felt it worth exploring the Government’s plans with regard to consultation and regulations about the packaging and point of sale of vapes. Vapes were on the market for quite a few years before the big uptick in youth vaping around 2021. That coincided with cheap, colourful, ergonomic disposables flooding the market. We need to make vapes a dull cessation tool again. Regulating packaging can and should be done quickly because vapes are being more aggressively marketed, partly through displays in stores. This is having an effect. Action on Smoking and Health’s latest youth vaping survey found that awareness of vaping promotion grew among 11 to 17 year-olds between 2022 and 2025. There was a significant increase in awareness of promotion of vapes over that period, particularly in shops: 37% in 2022 compared with 55% last year.

In 2022, 56% of 11 to 17 year-olds who were aware of vapes reported that they were exposed to some form of vape promotion. In 2022, 11% of young people who were aware of vapes reported seeing vape displays every time or most times they went into supermarkets. Last year that figure had risen to 27%, so there is a pressing need to do something about this. I accept that plain packaging and display rules for tobacco products were implemented, following consultation, through secondary legislation. I therefore ask the Minister what research has been carried out on the potential effect of plain packaging and point of sale for vapes, whether it would deter young people who do not smoke from taking up vaping and whether it has been shown that there would be any deterrent effect on adults who wish to quit by using vapes to help them to do so. Frankly, I would be very surprised if someone who wishes to quit would be deterred from buying a vape just because it was not in a shiny, colourful, attractive package on a shiny, colourful, attractive display, like the ones I currently see all over the place.

I do not support Amendments 125 and 134 tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Moylan. I felt we had a balanced debate in Committee about the role that flavours play in smoking cessation, and I was reassured by the Minister’s comments at that time. Clearly, regulation of flavour descriptors is easier to do and may give us the desired outcomes, meaning that we do not need to regulate flavours themselves. However, it is important that the Government retain the right to regulate flavours in case evidence emerges about particular flavours that require action.

On Amendment 136A tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Udny-Lister, the limit on vape size is currently 2 millilitres, but I know there are concerns regarding products that attach to vapes to increase this. I urge caution in this area. While it might seem likely that larger tanks increase consumption, there is not yet evidence of this being the case, and concerns regarding big-puff products may be unfounded. We need to find out. Indeed, the rise in youth vaping in Britain since 2020 appears to have been primarily driven by 2-millilitre, colourful, single-use vapes, not larger-capacity products. It is possible that larger-volume products could have benefits in satisfying consumer demand for longer-lasting products, reducing littering—which would be a good thing—and increasing the price point of initial purchase without unduly raising the price per puff for those using them to quit smoking. I look forward to comments from the Minister on the broad point regarding attachments. I know that both these issues were included in the recent call for evidence, so she may have some early insights for us in the light of that. I beg to move.

[Lord Moylan (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak to my Amendments 125 and 134 in this group. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, for the support that she has indicated for them. On the speech just made by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, I am obviously distressed that she has been exposed needlessly to the sight of shiny vapes in her local supermarket, petrol station or whatever it is. We can sympathise with her on that, but she seems to have ignored entirely the context of Clause 89. This gives the Government the most extensive powers, at least in relation to packaging, which, as far as I can see, could very easily lead to the equivalent of plain packaging, but she made no reference to it.

My amendments would increase the powers that the Government have in Clause 89. I will first explain the rationale for what I am proposing. There is a great deal of agreement—there has been throughout Report—between the Minister and me; I hope that we can continue that in the course of this debate. We agree, crucially, on the importance of how the flavours are described and presented to the public in attracting buyers to vapes.

However, that cuts two ways. We know, on the one hand, that vapes can have what I call “flavour descriptors” on them. These are deliberately designed to appeal to children and young people in a way that we are all opposed to. We do not wish to see vapes marketed in such a way as to seduce children and young people into taking them up. When we see flavour descriptors such as “cotton candy” and “gummy bear” on the side of a vape, we can all agree that that sort of thing should have a stop put to it because we know the market that it is intended to reach. On the other hand, as I think the Minister has acknowledged, for vapes to be an effective cessation tool for adults it is important to have a range of flavours available to them. As I said, I think the Government have acknowledged that.

Where in the Bill is the power that the Government need to regulate flavour descriptors? It is the flavour descriptor—the “gummy bear”, the “cotton candy”—that the Government need a clear power to be able to eliminate. We discussed this in Committee. The Minister very kindly wrote to me afterwards and said that the Government would rely on Clause 89, which relates to retail packaging. This gives the Government a certain number of powers to make regulations concerning packaging, but it does not at any point, as far as I can see, specify the flavour descriptor that appears on the packaging as something that the Government have a direct power to regulate.

The Government may rely on Clause 89, and it may be possible that its scope could be stretched to cover their point. It would ultimately, I suppose, be a matter for the courts to decide. My Amendment 125, fairly straightforwardly, would give the Government that power explicitly. It would add to the list in Clause 89(3), currently running from paragraph (a) to paragraph (k), of the things that the Government can regulate. It would add a further thing: the flavour descriptor that appears on the packaging. I do not think the Government would necessarily want to reject this amendment. It would give them a power that could be very useful; even if they feel that they have this power already, making it explicit would make matters somewhat easier.

To complement that, there is in Clause 91, which relates to contents and flavours, a power for the Government to make regulations concerning the “flavour of relevant products”. Here I want to make a point which I made in Committee and which is of the utmost importance; I speak as somebody who uses vapes. My point is that, in practice—I say this especially for the benefit of noble Lords who do not use vapes—the flavour descriptor on the vape has almost no relationship to the flavour of the vape.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Darzi of Denham (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I strongly support the Bill and the ambition to create a smoke- free generation. Throughout my clinical and academic career, I have consistently argued for bold preventive action, because nothing would do more to reduce preventable death and health inequality than ending tobacco addiction. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, for Amendments 125 and 134. I understand the instincts behind them, but I cannot support them. These amendments would limit the Government’s power to regulate flavour descriptors—the words on the packet rather than the chemical ingredients that create the flavour. Put simply, we would be regulating the label, not the substance.

The Chief Medical Officer’s evidence note is clear. Flavoured vaping products contain a wide range of chemicals, many of which are safe to eat but dangerous to inhale. The long-term effects of inhaling these substances are simply not known yet. Restricting regulations to descriptors alone would deny the Government’s ability to act as new science emerges. As we have heard, flavour is one of the principal drivers of youth uptake. If we regulate only what the packet says and not what the product contains, manufacturers will simply reformulate to maintain the same appeal. We would be inviting a regulatory game of cat and mouse, and it is a game that children will lose.

[Lord Moylan (Con)]

I hate to interrupt the noble Lord, but Clause 91 gives the Secretary of State powers to regulate the substances that may be included in a relevant product. I am not proposing that we change that at all. I am simply suggesting we change “flavour” to “flavour descriptor”, because flavour is inherently subjective. The substances which may be toxic or harmful would remain in scope of the legislation in the language the Government have chosen to use, irrespective of my amendment. I interrupt the noble Lord only because I am not entirely sure that he has grasped the effect of my amendment, and I thought he might want to reflect on that.

[Lord Darzi of Denham (Non-Afl)]

If I have not, then I apologise. I still believe it is not clear on paper. I feel it is the flavour that is being bound, but if the noble Lord’s amendment is correcting that, that is fine. Narrowing the powers before the science is settled is another issue. There is very little scientific evidence on the impact of the taste or whatever the inhaler contains. This has not been utilised before, so we do not know the dangers of the substance that is being inhaled. The prudent course is to retain the widest possible powers and to act on evidence as it emerges. To do otherwise will leave our children exposed to risks we could have prevented. I urge the House to at least look at these amendments or reject them.