Part one of this two-part series discussed how the government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be reintroduced after being timed out under Sunak’s pre-election administration.
The Disposable Vape Ban
The ban on disposable vapes will also have to be reintroduced by the new government, as a House of Commons Library briefing on advertising, marketing and promotion of vaping products explained last month. It was to be tacked on to the Environmental Protection Act as a statutory instrument but “the calling of a general election prevented the draft regulations from progressing further.”
It is certain that the new government will follow through on the ban, despite growing evidence that disposables have led to a significant increase in switching away from cigarettes.
Bang up-to-date investor documents from Altria describe how vaping has soared in the United States in the past year and collapsed their combustible cigarette sales by nearly 10 percent, despite single use vapes being unauthorised by the Food and Drug Administration and, therefore, illegal. Likewise, the latest UCL Smoking Toolkit data for England, published last month, show that the “plateau” in adults switching from cigarettes to vapes that had disappointed public health advocates in recent years has come to an end, thanks to disposables. Sadly, there is no place for dramatic health improvements when there is an ignorant moral panic about youth vaping to cater to.
There is no appreciation in the debate about single use vapes that for each adolescent vaping a disposable, there are at least nine times as many adults using the products. Many of the youth who vape are occasional or experimental users. And, as Clive Bates observed in January, “adult use, however, will be dominated by people who smoke or previously smoked – and this prohibition puts them at risk of serious diseases if they revert to smoking or dual use.”
Louise Ross, the Stop Smoking Service lead who launched the first vape-friendly Stop Smoking Service in the world, also points out that many people who have tried everything including refillables to stop smoking have found success with the simplicity and cheap nature of a disposable. “Single use vapes also serve older and disabled people who can’t manage the fiddliness of a tank, and people who had successfully quit may buy a disposable vape on a night out if their own device has run out of battery power.”
“If they can’t buy a disposable vape for convenience,” she asks, “what are they going to do? Buy a packet of cigarettes of course.”
The Vape Duty
The vape duty which is set to be implemented in October 2026 needs no reintroduction. This was included in Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget so is a commitment set in stone unless, Rachel Reeves (the new Chancellor of the Exchequer) decides to change it.
Although maybe unlikely, that is not an entirely fanciful notion. It is arguable that Hunt was using the promise of far off vape duty income as a way of satisfying a parliamentary fiscal rule which demands that government aim to be in budget surplus in five years. Announcing such a hefty level of taxation on vapes enabled him to promise tax cuts in his budget speech in April on the promise of balancing income in the future. The new Chancellor has her own ideas on tax and spending commitments and may choose to abandon any framework that Hunt had put in place.
Consumers should continue to argue for the duty to be massively dialled down or abolished. Former Director of Action on Smoking and Health, Clive Bates, rightly described it as “a muddle of flawed reasoning, overlooking multiple perverse unintended consequences.” A government promising “change” and to “tread more lightly” on the lives of the public should certainly think hard whether a £1,000 annual tax on over five million people who have quit smoking with vapes is proportionate.
Conclusion
With both the Conservative and Labour parties seemingly set on implementing bans and restrictions on vaping and other alternatives to cigarettes, the potential emergence of a massive black market in the UK is still a big concern. If the resurrected Tobacco and Vapes Bill is drafted in the same cursory and unthinking way the previous version was, it could do far more harm than good.
Bans and restrictions reduce choice and discourage smokers from quitting and the last thing that is needed to combat youth vaping is the introduction of a shady black market which would have no issue in selling to children. The new government must think long and hard about its proposals for less harmful nicotine alternatives and treat them responsibly and with respect. Not doing so will cause more problems than it will solve.
Martin Cullip is an International Fellow at The Taxpayers Protection Alliance's Consumer Center and is based in South London, UK.
