Contribution
My Lords, in speaking to all the amendments in this group—Amendments 140AA, 140C, 140D, 140E, 147A and 147B—I seek your Lordships’ support to ensure that the Bill is both proportionate and evidence-led and that we do not undermine the considerable effort made over the past few decades to help adult smokers quit.
In tabling these amendments, I seek to ensure that the Bill has the ability to protect young people without abandoning support for adult smokers who are trying to quit. The quiet success of British public health policy over the past decades has been the principle of harm reduction through individual choice, and central to this has been how this country has led the world in promoting alternatives to traditional smoking.
As a result of this multiagency and industry approach to tackling smoking, from nicotine replacement therapies to the state-sponsored rollout of e-cigarettes, smoking rates have fallen faster here than in almost any other country. The data speaks for itself: in 2023, just 11.9% of UK citizens smoked, which is down from 20.2% in 2011. I fear that this progress risks being undermined if we allow our regulatory processes to become too rigid and too slow to adapt to innovation and behavioural trends. Currently, this Bill fails to distinguish adequately between combustible tobacco and less harmful alternatives. I worry that, unless these amendments are agreed, we will unintentionally create perverse incentives that could drive consumers back to smoking cigarettes—the very outcome that I believe the Government wish to prevent.
In summary, through Amendment 140AA, I seek your Lordships’ support in replacing rigid regulation with flexible guidance. In doing so, the aim of this amendment is to set conditions under which the Government have the ability to set informed expectations without overregulating legitimate harm reduction tools, which have so far proven themselves invaluable in supporting adult smokers to quit. Furthermore, I hope that, through this amendment, we can reduce any future bureaucratic delays that could stump the rollout of fast-evolving vape technologies. I put it to the Committee that this amendment would support proportionate state oversight while safeguarding consumer choice and innovation.
Continuing on this theme, Amendments 140C and 140D seek to achieve the same while reinforcing that, in this technical policy space, Ministers should guide rather than dictate. Both amendments would offer businesses clarity while ensuring that there is space for the Government to guide and advise. In Amendment 140C, I seek the Committee’s support in preventing overreach through secondary legislation that would, I believe, stifle the vaping and heated tobacco sectors.
In Amendment 140E, I seek to strengthen public confidence in this Bill by showing that there is fair and balanced consultation. Legislation of this scope should not be passed without adequate consultation. Through this amendment, I am seeking to place a requirement on the Secretary of State to consult manufacturers, retailers, adult users and other stakeholders. Given how this Bill intends to curb individual liberties, the only way in which the Government can seek to get the public onside is through co-design and properly understanding the views and the practical challenges. Unless this amendment is agreed, there will remain a blurred line between smoking and harm reduction. I put it to the Committee that the Government have a duty to prevent a one-size-fits-all approach that would, I fear, push people back towards smoking.
Amendment 147A seeks, in a similar way to Amendment 140AA, to replace rigid regulation with flexible guidance. I tabled this amendment as it would allow the Government to act swiftly, as trends change, through allowing for agility in the setting of advertising and presentation standards.
Finally, I shall speak to the last amendment in this group: Amendment 147B. In it, I again call for consultation. I am seeking to balance responsible marketing with adult consumer freedoms. Through this amendment, I seek to send a clear message that the target of harm reduction products is smokers seeking to quit and that, therefore, advertising should be limited and controlled in order to protect children.
Collectively, these amendments balance agility with accountability by providing proportionate oversight as opposed to overly prescriptive control. I hope that the Government will recognise the constructive nature of these amendments, especially as they seek to ensure transparency and engagement with the most affected and to provide a clear differentiation between cigarettes and safer alternatives. I beg to move.