B

Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-Afl)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 24 February 2026

Debate

Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Contribution

My Lords, I half support Amendment 26. I would also like to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Moylan. The introduction of this regressive and untested generational ban on tobacco sales obviously raises the thorny issue of how it will be implemented in terms of retailers checking ages. Following the discussion on the first group, it is worth noting that this is very different from standardised age checks, which we already have, where there can be challenges at 18 or 21 and over. I would like to quote Trading Standards Wales, which described it as creating “a two-tier age system for tobacco whereby someone born in 2008 would be legally able to purchase tobacco products whilst someone born in 2009 would not”. It seems that, for this Bill to work in its own terms, enforcement is key, but it is not clear how that will be practical. Again, to quote Trading Standards Wales: “Having a two-tier age system means that young people could still obtain cigarettes from older friends or family members that smoke and, it is unlikely that any parties would report each other to the authorities as both would face legal consequences in doing so”.

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