Member

For example, we can look back to when the age of sale was increased from 16 to 18. It created 1.3 million more people who were no longer able to be sold cigarettes. In theory, if we followed the line put forward in the debate today, they would therefore have been in the market for illegal cigarettes, but, in fact, the number of illicit cigarettes because of that move actually reduced by 25%. Current smokers will always legally be able to be sold cigarettes, so there is no reason why the smoke-free generation policy should automatically lead to a growth in demand in the illicit market. The Bill provides powers to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products in order to clamp down on rogue retailers; I look forward, as I am sure noble Lords do, to returning to that matter in our debate on group 13.