Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban plan could be ‘flipping one addiction for another’, says Suffolk County Council opposition leader

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban proposal has been welcomed by Suffolk County Council’s opposition leader.

But Cllr Andrew Stringer, the leader of Green, Liberal Democrat, and Independent opposition group at Suffolk County Council, says it doesn’t go far enough.

The Prime Minister announced the plans on Wednesday during the final day of the Conservative Party conference.

He said: “We must tackle the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability, and death and that is smoking.

“So, I propose that in future we raise the smoking age by one year, every year.”

This means anyone born in 2014 would never be able to legally buy a cigarette, creating a ‘smoke free’ generation.

The proposal was welcomed by Cllr Andrew Stringer, the leader of Green, Liberal Democrat, and Independent opposition group at Suffolk County Council.

He said: “This is probably long overdue, frankly, but we do welcome this — it may not be enough but it’s a start.”

But Cllr Stringer was still disappointed in the lack of commitment shown to combat the uptake in vaping.

He continued: “The government should’ve done a whole package on vaping and we fear that they might be flipping one addiction with another.”

Cllr Stringer also sits as a cabinet member in Mid Suffolk, one of two local areas, alongside Ipswich, in the top 40 authorities with the largest increase in smoking.

According to Go Smoke Free, they registered increases of 40.96 and 28.65 per cent respectively between 2018 and 2021.

A spokesperson for Go Smoke Free said: “Although there has been a 6.19 per cent decline in smokers between 2018 and 2021 across the UK, there are still several areas reporting an uptake in people identifying as smokers.”

Cllr Stringer said there were a ‘number of factors’ behind the rise in smoking within his district including ‘education and social economic circumstance’.

However, one of the biggest challenges, he said, is the ongoing popularity of vaping, particularly among younger people.

He added: “We have huge challenges, particularly with disposable vapes and we need to get a handle on how vaping is almost being targetted at the young.”

With the Tobacco Control Alliance having announced its efforts to control vaping across the county two weeks ago, both local and national governments’ tougher stance on smoking is starting to take shape.