Under-25s Might Be Banned From Buying Cigarettes In England

People under the age of 25 in England could soon be banned from purchasing cigarettes under new government plans to become a 'smoke free' nation.

Health secretary Sajid Javid commissioned the upcoming report and Javed Khan OBE is set to outline feedback next month, as per the Daily Mail.

Mr Khan is the former CEO of children's charity Barnardo's and is supporting England's plan to be smoke free by 2030.

Speaking to The Times, Mr Khan said: "We are thinking seriously about the age of sale."

Making comparisons with the pandemic, he added: "Just look at the Covid experience, mass marketing has a big effect, it really works. 

"The government went hell for leather, it made an enormous difference in vaccination rates."

Last month, via a Twitter thread, he also wrote: "I want to hear your views and what we can do to support current smokers to quit, and to stop people taking up smoking. 

"How do we stop people, especially children and young people, from starting smoking in the first place? 

"Have you quit smoking for good? What worked? What do you think could work better? 

"Have you ever used a Stop Smoking Service to quit smoking? 

"Or spoken to your GP about it? What was your experience?"

In a statement on the Government's website, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "The pandemic has shown the resilience of the British public and brought communities together to look after each other in the most challenging times.

"But it has also exposed chasms in our society – particularly in health."

Mr Khan added: "I am very pleased to be leading this review into such an important area of public health.

"My independent findings will help highlight key interventions which can help the government achieve its ambitions to be smoke-free by 2030 and tackle health disparities."

New Zealand, for example, already seem to be steps ahead where anyone born after 2008 won't be able to buy tobacco products.

Deborah Arnott, from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), last year, said that the 'time has now come' for the government's pledge to be delivered on.

She told Sky News: "Currently smoking rates are not declining nearly fast enough.

"If, as called for by the APPG, the recommendations in its report are implemented by 2022, we can get on track to make smoking obsolete by 2030."

Smoking was the largest cause of preventable deaths in 2019 with 64,000 smokers having died from smoking that year, according to the ONS.