Sunak plans to raise the legal smoking age in England each year until it applies to whole population

Source: Associated Press

Sunak plans to raise the legal smoking age in England each year until it applies to whole population

Updated 9:47 AM EDT, October 4, 2023

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday proposed raising the legal age that people in England can buy cigarettes by one year, every year until it applies to the whole population.

The planned change will mean that “a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette,” Sunak said.

The proposed law change will make it an offense for anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009 to be sold tobacco products. That could almost completely phase out smoking in young people as soon as 2040, the government said. If Parliament approves the proposal, the legal change would only apply in England — not in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The current legal smoking age in England is from age 18.

Setting out his plans at the annual Conservative Party conference, Sunak said he wanted to “stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place.”

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/england-smoking-age-increase-uk-prime-minister-e1615ab1181c230dceb73ce3ed71222c