E-cigarettes: Regulation

Lord Turnberg Excerpts
Monday 7th March 2016

(8 years, 8 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Prior of Brampton Portrait Lord Prior of Brampton
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My Lords, as I said, these new products are not perfect but are substantially better than smoking cigarettes. One of the purposes of the new directive is that there should be proper labelling on the products.

Lord Turnberg Portrait Lord Turnberg (Lab)
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My Lords, the noble Lord dismissed the idea of an excise tax, but there is a strong rumour that the EU intends to impose a tax on these products. Will the Government do everything they can to counteract this counterproductive suggestion?

Lord Prior of Brampton Portrait Lord Prior of Brampton
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My Lords, as I said, there is no proposal for an excise duty as part of the tobacco directive, as I understand it. I would agree entirely with the intent behind the question, which is that we should be promoting this product not discouraging it.