What will happen if you buy an e-cigarette after UK smoking ban comes in
Here is how buying an e-cigarette will change once the new rules regarding smoking and vaping come into force next year.
Anyone who's a fan of fruity or sugary-tasting vapes should start counting their days, as the UK government confirmed earlier this year that laws regarding the sale of certain types of e-cigarettes will change from on 1 June 2025.
How will the upcoming ban impact vaping and smoking?
Talk of changing the laws around the sale of vapes isn't anything new, with the idea previously being floated by the former Conservative government. Kier Starmer's Labour have since decided to follow suit with the plans.
One of the main features of the upcoming Tobacco and Vapes Bill will see disposable e-cigarettes outright banned in England and Wales. The sale and advertising of vapes will also become more tightly regulated as well as tighter restrictions on the flavour, display and packaging of vapes.
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The government is hoping these new measures will specifically limit the number of young people taking up the habit.
“The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will stop vapes from deliberately being branded and advertised to appeal to children, including by regulating flavours, packaging, and changing how and where they are displayed in shops," a government spokesperson previously told LADbible.
"Ministers are reviewing proposals to restrict the sale and supply of disposable vapes more widely before setting out next steps."
The bill will also extend the current indoor smoking ban to certain outdoor spaces such as children's playgrounds, outside schools and hospitals. However, the BBC notes the ban is currently not expected to cover pub gardens, as previously reported.
Like smoking, vaping could also become restricted in certain outdoor spaces, while a tax on vapes which contain nicotine will also be introduced from 1 October 2026.
How will buying a vape change after the ban comes into force?
From June, retailers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland will require a licence in order to sell 'tobacco, vape and nicotine products' in stores. Scotland already has a similar scheme in place.
The saw will also impact who can buy cigarettes, with the bill looking to ban anyone born after 1 January 2009 from ever being legally able to smoke. This will be done by gradually raising the age in which tobacco can legally be purchased.
Revealing further details about how the generational smoking ban will work, Andrew Gwynne, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, told LADbible: "This isn't about punishing young people. The enforcement regime that the bill brings in will tackle rogue retailers, not young people.
"So somebody illegally buys a cigarette. It will be the retailer that is punished, not the young person. I think that's a really important distinction to make. We're not criminalising smoking, but we are enforcing the restrictions on retailers to be responsible and mostly retailers are."
Brenna Cooper