SMOKING will be banned in Britain for young people, King Charles confirmed today.
At the State Opening of Parliament, the monarch confirmed that Rishi Sunak will launch a historic campaign against cigarettes by raising the legal age every year until there are no smokers.
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Cigarettes will be banned in Britain for young people, King Charles confirmed todayCredit: Alamy
The Prime Minister said earlier: “We need to tackle the biggest preventable cause of ill health and death.
“And that’s smoking and our country. Smoking causes one in four cancer deaths.”
The new plans mean today’s 14-year-olds will never be legally sold a cigarette.
The tough new anti-smoking measures would raise the smoking age by a year each year to eventually make it illegal to buy cigarettes.
The ban will be subject to a “free vote” in parliament, meaning party officials will not tell MPs how to vote.
But Labor has confirmed its intention to vote with the government, so the new law will go through parliament.
The plan was initially rejected by ministers when it was previously proposed.
But Mr Sunak now said: “People start smoking cigarettes when they are young. Four out of five smokers start smoking by the time they are 20. Later, the vast majority try to quit.
“But many fail because they are addicted and wish they had never indulged in the habit.
“If we could break that cycle, if we could stop it from starting, then we would be on our way to ending the largest preventable cause of death and disease in our country.”
The government is committed to making England “smoke-free” by 2030, meaning less than 5 per cent of the public use cigarettes.
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Source: HIS Education