The allegedly “Conservative” government of Rishi Sunak is reportedly looking to impose an effective ban on cigarettes for the next generations of Britons.
According to a report from the Guardian newspaper, the prime minister is considering following the example of the leftist government in New Zealand in implementing fresh restrictions on smoking.
Last December, the globalist government of then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern implemented measures to steadily raise the legal age to buy tobacco products to create an effective ban for anyone born on or after January 1st, 2009.
The far-left government of Ardern also mandated that producers limit the amount of nicotine in tobacco products and banned the sale of cigarettes in supermarkets and convenience stores.
The left-wing Labour Party in Britain has also expressed support for adopting a New Zealand-style approach to phasing out tobacco products over time.
In response to the report, a former member of the Mumford & Sons folk rock band Winston Marshal wrote: “Tobacco is a refined pleasure that every Brit should have the right to enjoy. Banning it will only create a black market, destroy a legitimate industry, kill 0.4% [of] national income, and we will smoke anyway. Smokers of the world unite!”
UK ‘Sleepwalking into Prohibition’ Thanks to EU Ban on Menthol Cigarettes https://t.co/MtaXvi2JOW
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 20, 2020
Simon Clark of the smokers-rights group Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest), said: “Treating adults like children by denying them the right to buy cigarettes legally would take the nanny state to another level.”
“Smoking rates have been falling for decades. The idea that any government would prioritise tackling smoking at a time when the country faces far more important challenges at home and abroad is frankly obscene.
“If it is true that the Prime Minister wants to introduce some of the world’s toughest anti-smoking measures, denying millions of adults the freedom to choose, it will be a Conservative Government in name only.”
When pressed on whether the UK was looking to implement a smoking ban, a government spokesman said: “Smoking is a deadly habit – it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy.
“We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates. This includes providing 1 million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world-first ‘swap to stop’ scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit, and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts.”