Frequently asked questions

This page provides responses to frequently asked questions about government plans to raise the age of sale for tobacco by one year, every year, to prevent anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 from legally buying tobacco. The generational smoking ban will be implemented via the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which is currently going through parliament. For more detail about the rationale and evidence underpinning this policy, see the command paper and the ‘need to know’ article.

1. How much damage does smoking do to our society?
2. What impact will the generational smoking ban have?
3. What will happen to people born after 2008 who try to buy tobacco?
4. What about free choice?
5. Will this impact vaping?
6. Should we also raise the age of sale for vapes to create a ‘nicotine-free generation’?
7. What happens when the age of sale covers people in their 30s and 40s?
8. How will this be enforced?
9. What impact will this have on the black market?
10. What about the tobacco sales ban in South Africa?
11. Does this mean tobacco will be part of the ‘war on drugs’?
12. What impact will this have on the public finances?
13. Do the public support the generational smoking ban?
14. How will this impact small retailers?
15. What about the tobacco industry?
16. What happened to the smoking ban in New Zealand?

How much damage does smoking do to our society?

• Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the UK. As the Government says in their command paper: “Tobacco is the single most important entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability and death in this country, responsible for 64,000 deaths in England a year. No other consumer product kills up to two-thirds of its users."
• Smoking is also a major cause of health inequalities. The command paper says: “Those who are unemployed, on low incomes or living in areas of deprivation are far more likely to smoke than the general population. Smoking attributable mortality rates are 2.1 times higher in the most deprived local authorities than in the least deprived.

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What impact will the generational smoking ban have?

• Government modelling estimates that raising the age of sale each year will prevent up to 473,000 cases of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and other lung diseases, leading to 155,000 fewer deaths. This will save the health and care system billions of pounds.
• While only 3% of 14 year olds currently smoke, smoking rates increase with age. Data from the Smoking Toolkit Study shows that 13.8% of 16-17 year olds and 19.5% of 18-21 year olds currently smoke. The only way to make smoking history is to stop people starting in the first place.
• Every day in the UK, around 350 young adults aged 18-25 start smoking regularly, many of whom will become trapped in a lifetime of addiction and premature death.
• In England, raising age of sale from 16 to 18 in 2007 reduced smoking rates among 16-17-year-olds by 30%. In the US, when the age of sale was increased from 18 to 21, the chance of a person in that age group smoking fell by 39%.

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What will happen to people born after 2008 who try to buy tobacco?

• In England, the legal obligation on retailers is not to sell tobacco to those who are underage. It is also an offence to buy tobacco on behalf of someone underage, also known as ‘proxy purchase’. Unlike with alcohol, there is no offense for those who try to purchase tobacco underage. As is the case now, the new law will not criminalise underage purchase, possession or use of tobacco.

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What about free choice?

• Those who can currently legally be sold tobacco will still be able to. This is about raising the age of sale for tobacco gradually to prevent the next generation becoming hooked to a uniquely harmful and addictive product which kills over half of all long-term users.
• Smoking is not a matter of free choice. Addiction deprives people of choice: two in three people who try one cigarette going on to become daily smokers, most of whom will regret ever starting.
• Over four in five smokers became addicted to smoking before they turned 20, most as children. Once addicted, on average it takes 30 attempts to quit smoking, and only around one in ten smokers a year manage to quit.
• To quote the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty: "As a doctor I've seen many people in hospital desperate to stop smoking because it's killing them and yet they cannot - their choice has been removed."

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Will this impact vaping?

• Vaping is not risk free, but all the evidence shows it is much less harmful than smoking and is a highly effective tool for helping adult smokers quit. To quote the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Sir Chris Whitty: “The key points about vaping (e-cigarettes) can be easily summarised. If you smoke, vaping is much safer; if you don’t smoke, don’t vape; marketing vapes to children is utterly unacceptable.”
• However, the rise in youth vaping is concerning and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will introduce much tougher regulations for vapes. This includes restrictions on vape branding, packaging and flavours; a total ban on vape advertising and sponsorship; a ban on vape vending machines; retail licensing and registration schemes for tobacco and vapes; and bans on vaping in some smokefree places.
• This is in addition to the ban on disposable vapes from June 2025 and introduction of a duty on vaping liquid in October 2026. These measures will reduce the appeal of vapes to young people and non-smokers while ensuring that they can continue to be available to adults for smoking cessation.

• As of October 2023, the UK medicines regulator (the MHRA) received 357 reports of suspected vaping-related adverse reactions through its Yellow Card reporting scheme for vaping products. This compares to around 500,000 smoking-attributable hospital admissions each year.

• For more information about vaping and the regulations needed to reduce youth use, see the ASH written evidence to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill public bill committee. For more information about common misperceptions about vaping see the ASH mythbuster on vaping.

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Should we also raise the age of sale for vapes to create a ‘nicotine-free generation’?

• No. A generational smoking ban is justified because tobacco is uniquely addictive and the leading cause of death and disease in the UK. While vaping is not risk free, it is much less harmful than smoking and is effective for smoking cessation. Some people will continue to smoke despite the ban (although this will become less common over time) and it’s important that they have access to vapes for smoking cessation.
• Vapes seem to be particularly effective cessation tool for people experiencing disadvantage, such as those on low incomes, living with mental health conditions or experiencing homelessness. These groups tend to have the highest smoking rates and face the biggest barriers to quitting. A generational ban on vapes risks depriving them of an effective stop smoking aid and increasing the chance that they will continue to smoke.
• A nicotine-free society may be the direction of travel in the long term but the immediate priority should be supporting as many people as possible to give up the most lethal and addictive consumer product in existence – tobacco.

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What happens when the age of sale covers people in their 30s and 40s?

• The generational smoking ban is part of a vision to end the harms from smoking in this country for good.
• Adults impacted by this measure will never have been able to purchase tobacco legally and as a result, will be much less likely to be long-term smokers. Government modelling shows that raising the age of sale could virtually eliminate smoking in under 30s by 2050. This means that there will be very few people impacted by this measure who are still smoking in their 30s and 40s.
• Raising the age of sale is important for ensuring fewer people become addicted to smoking in the first place but it needs to be combined with measures to help existing smokers quit. This is why the Government has also announced a major increase in funding for stop smoking activity and public awareness campaigns; financial incentives for pregnant smokers and their partners; and a national vaping ‘swap-to-stop’ scheme to help 1 million smokers quit. This is in addition to the stop smoking support being rolled out in the NHS for smokers in hospital.

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How will this be enforced?

• Increases in the age of sale have been implemented in the UK and around the world with few problems. This did not cause major enforcement issues and led to declines in smoking in the age-groups affected.
• It is often said by the tobacco industry and their proxies that new regulations will be difficult to enforce. This was a key criticism of the ban in public places when it was first proposed. However, once it came into force compliance was 97% and it was largely self-enforcing. This is because the legislation was preceded by a lengthy public debate and comprehensive communications strategy which increased awareness and support among the public and the hospitality industry. No-one would now consider repealing the law on smoking in public places.
• This is why it is important to engage both young people and retailers with the consultation and public debate as they are the main groups impacted by this measure.
• There is already much stronger public support for raising the age of sale than there was for the ban on smoking in pubs and clubs when it was first introduced, with 69% of the public in favour vs only 12% opposed.
• Enforcement will be handled by trading standards, not the police.

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What impact will this have on the black market?

• The generational smoking ban will not prevent current adult smokers from purchasing tobacco and will have a gradual impact over time, so is unlikely to significantly impact the black market. When the tobacco age of sale increased from 16 to 18 in 2007 it had no impact on black market sales – the number of illicit cigarettes consumed actually declined by 25% following the age of sale rise.
• Strong enforcement is crucial for addressing the black market. A comprehensive UK anti-smuggling strategy led by HMRC, Border Force and trading standards has reduced the illicit market share for cigarettes from 20% in 2000/01 to 7% in 2022/23, and 60% to 33% for hand-rolled tobacco. The number of illegal cigarettes on sale in the UK has fallen by 90%, from 15 billion in 2000/01 to 1.5 billion in 2022/23. The introduction of tough anti-smoking policies such as smokefree laws in 2007 and plain cigarette packs in 2015 did not lead to an increase in illicit sales (despite industry claims).
• The most effective way to reduce demand for illicit tobacco is to support more people to quit smoking.

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What about the tobacco sales ban in South Africa?

• Tobacco companies (including JTI and Imperial Brands) have attempted to discredit the generational smoking ban by comparing it to the ban on tobacco sales introduced by the South African government during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these are completely different policies being implemented in very different contexts.
• The South African government introduced a temporary ban on the sale of tobacco and vaping products between 27 March and 17 August 2020 as part of the COVID-19 lockdown. This lasted less than 6 months and was not effective for reducing smoking prevalence. Smokers continued to buy tobacco on the black market despite the ban.
• This is not the policy being implemented in the UK. The generational smoking ban will only apply to future generations and will not prevent existing adult smokers from purchasing tobacco. The regulatory context in the UK is also completely different to South Africa. In the UK, smoking rates are much lower and continue to decline; tobacco is tightly regulated; the illicit market is much smaller and is subject to strict controls; stop smoking support is widely available and smokers can access a range of stop smoking aids and alternatives, including vapes.
• Previous tobacco control measures in the UK did not contribute to the illicit market (despite tobacco industry claims to the contrary) and there is no evidence that the generational smoking ban will either.

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Does this mean tobacco will be part of the ‘war on drugs’?

• The generational smoking ban is completely different to the prohibition of illicit drugs, both in terms of how it will be enforced, who the law applies to and the penalties for breaking the law. The use or possession of tobacco by those underage will not be criminalised and stop smoking services will continue to support those underage to quit. Penalties for retailers breaking the law will be fines in most cases, with custodial sentences only for the most extreme breaches.

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What impact will this have on the public finances?

• In 2024, smoking cost the public finances in England £16.5bn, more than double the £6.8bn raised through tobacco taxes. The net cost after tobacco tax revenue and reduced pension payments were accounted for was £9.7bn. This consisted of £3.3bn in reduced tax revenue from lost productivity, £3.4bn in increased social security spending and £3bn in public service costs. Reducing smoking rates will directly benefit the public finances as well as saving tens of thousands of lives.

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Do the public support the generational smoking ban?

• Raising the age of sale to create a smokefree generation is supported by 69% of people in GB, with just 12% opposed. The policy has broad cross-party support with 70% of those who voted Conservative in 2019, 74% who voted Labour, and 75% of those who voted Lib Dem. A majority (52%) of smokers also support raising the age of sale, more than double the proportion (24%) opposed.
• Most parents, including most smokers, don’t want their children to become addicted to smoking. The main group opposed to this are the tobacco industry and their allies.

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How will this impact small retailers?

• Since legislation to raise the age of sale was announced, tobacco manufacturers have argued that the legislation will harm small retailers and paid for advertising urging retailers to lobby against the legislation.
• However, research independent of the tobacco industry commissioned by ASH finds that most retailers support the government proposals. More than half (51%) of 900 small tobacco retailers in England and Wales spoken to on the phone by independent researchers supported the government’s age of sale proposal, nearly double those opposed (26%).
• Tobacco manufacturers have previously funded campaigns using retailers to try to prevent the display ban and standardised packaging, from being passed by parliament, and failed. Independent surveys of retailers after implementation showed that the vast majority of retailers reported that the regulations had no impact on their business, either positive or negative. Furthermore the majority of retailers support existing regulations and would like to see them strengthened.
• Selling tobacco is highly profitable for manufacturers, but not for retailers. Retailers make lower profit margins on tobacco than for selling other products (8.5% for tobacco compared to 21% for other products) while tobacco manufacturers make on average 50%.

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What about the tobacco industry?

• Since the UK Government announced the smokefree generation policy in October, there has been an increase in tobacco industry lobbying to block the proposal, including threatening legal action against the previous government.
• Ministers in the current and former UK governments have called out Big Tobacco’s attempts to “undermine the policy” and rejected the arguments put forward by industry. Tobacco industry lobbying efforts are summarised on the Tobacco Tactics website: Tobacco Industry Interference with Endgame Policies.

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What happened to the smoking ban in New Zealand?

• New Zealand was the first country to commit to introducing a generational smoking ban. However, following a general election in 2023 this commitment was abandoned by the incoming Government under pressure from their coalition partners – the libertarian ACT party and New Zealand First. This was despite overwhelming support from the public and all the main political parties.
• Public health experts have said that the decision could cost thousands of lives and be particularly detrimental to Māori, who have higher smoking rates. Experts have highlighted past connections between coalition politicians and tobacco companies or industry linked organisations and noted that the arguments used by the coalition government against tobacco endgame policies aligned with those used by tobacco companies.
• Tobacco industry lobbyists have used the New Zealand decision to argue that the UK should drop the generational smoking ban and have even promised that the industry would not oppose increasing the smoking age from 18 to 21. This demonstrates how big a threat this policy is to tobacco industry profits.

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