Legal age to buy cigarettes could be raised to 21 under new law

The sale of cigarettes to people under the age of twenty-one could be banned by 2030, new reports are suggesting.

The recommendation to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes from eighteen to twenty-one was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, as per Metro.

Under the proposals, tobacco companies would be subject to a ‘polluter pays’ law amendment to prevent children and young people from taking up the habit and to help current smokers quit.

APPG chairman Bob Blackman said: “Our report sets out measures which will put us on track to achieve the government’s ambition to end smoking by 2030, but they can’t be delivered without funding.

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“Tobacco manufacturers make extreme profits selling highly addictive, lethal products, while government coffers are bare because of Covid-19.

“The manufacturers have the money, they should be made to pay to end the epidemic.”

The group also called for targeted investment to provide extra support to help smokers stop in regions and communities where smoking does the most damage – this would include people who are in routine and manual jobs, unemployed, living in social housing, or who have a mental health condition or are pregnant.

This comes just a week after it was announced that Manchester City Council was one of five councils across the country enforcing a full smoking ban in outdoor spaces at restaurants, pubs and bars.

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The local authorities have begun including the rules in their licensing agreements for establishments applying to place table and chairs outdoors.

While smoking in outdoor seating areas has already been prohibited in the last year as part of Covid-19 regulations, these new bans have come as the government attempts to make the country ‘smoke free’ within the decade.

The councils have already begun stipulating smoke-free pavement drinking and dining rules in the past year, according to their licensing conditions.