Member

Looking at the other amendments in this group, I strongly oppose Amendment 16 because it would make it legal to allow 16 and 17 year-olds to buy vapes if it so happened that the voting age was lowered at some time in the future. We simply cannot allow that situation to arise. Young people may very well have the intellectual capacity to choose between candidates in an election, but they are still immature physically, and that is relevant to controls on matters that affect their bodily health. As the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, mentioned, Parliament has very often imposed different age limits for children that are relevant to their capacity in that particular respect. I do not think Amendment 17A would work as an exception to allow age-gated premises to have vaping machines. I bet there are several people in this Room who managed to get into an age-limited nightclub, a pub or an age-restricted film before they were legally old enough to do so. There are plenty of 17 year-olds who look 19 or 20.