{"id":545641,"date":"2026-04-23T01:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545641\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:21:09","slug":"uk-parliament-passes-bill-that-will-ban-cigarette-purchases-for-younger-generations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/545641\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Parliament passes bill that will ban cigarette purchases for younger generations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON (AP) \u2014 Opponents of smoking got a breath of fresh air as Parliament passed a bill that will put cigarettes out of reach for future generations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The end of smoking, and the devastating harm it causes, is no longer uncertain \u2014 it&#8217;s inevitable,&#8221; Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said after a decades-long campaign in favor of legislation approved Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Children born after Dec. 31, 2008 will be banned from ever buying cigarettes under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/world\/new-zealand-passes-lifetime-ban-on-youth-buying-cigarettes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: New Zealand passes lifetime ban on youth buying cigarettes<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The legislation that needs approval by King Charles III \u2014 a formality \u2014 before taking effect will also allow the government to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including flavors and packaging.<\/p>\n<p>It is currently illegal to sell cigarettes, tobacco products or vapes to people under 18. But most youths today will continue to face a ban their entire life as the minimum age to buy cigarettes rises each year.<\/p>\n<p>The passage gives the U.K. one of the toughest antismoking measures in the world. The law is similar to one\u00a0New Zealand lawmakers passed in 2022\u00a0but that was then repealed by a subsequent government.<\/p>\n<p>The number of people who smoke in Britain has declined by two-thirds since the 1970s, but some 6.4 million people \u2014 or about 13% of the population \u2014 still smoke, according to official figures.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities say smoking causes some 80,000 deaths a year in the U.K, and remains the number one preventable cause of death, disability and poor health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Children in the U.K. will be part of the first smoke-free generation, protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm,&#8221; Health Secretary Wes Streeting said.<\/p>\n<p>\n                    A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"invite_body\">\n                    Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.\n                <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/give.newshour.org\/page\/88646\/donate\/1?ea.tracking.id=pbs_news_sept_2025_article&amp;supporter.appealCode=N2509AW1000100\" class=\"donation-link ga-click-funding ga-click-ender-funding\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    Donate now<\/p>\n<p>                <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 Opponents of smoking got a breath of fresh air as Parliament passed a bill that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-545641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}