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Rishi Sunak has pledged to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes in England by one year every year in a crackdown on smoking.

The prime minister said the proposed legislation would mean a “14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and that they and their generation can grow up smoke-free”.

He said the changes will be subject to a vote in parliament but this will be a free vote, as was the ban on smoking in public places and raising the smoking age to 18.

Read more: See all the key points from Sunak’s conference speech

“There will be no government whip. It is a matter of conscience,” he said.

Addressing the annual Tory party conference today, Mr Sunak also promised to restrict the availability of vapes under plans to “put the next generation first”.

On smoking, he said it would not be fair “to take away the rights of anyone to smoke who currently does”.

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However, he said more could be done to stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place.

“I propose that in future we raise the smoking age by one year every year,” he told party delegates in Manchester.

“That means a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and that they and their generation can grow up smoke free.”

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He added: “People take up cigarettes when they’re young – four in five smokers have started by the time they’re 20.

“Later the vast majority try to quit. But many fail because they’re addicted and they wish they had never taken up the habit in the first place.

“And if we could break that cycle, if we could stop the start, then we would be on our way to ending the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country.”

Downing Street said it expects that the plans will mean up to 1.7 million fewer people smoking by 2075.

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How does vaping affect long-term health?

On vapes, the prime minister said: “As any parent or teacher knows, one of the most worrying trends right now is the rise in vaping amongst children – one in five children have used vapes.

“We must act before it becomes endemic.

“So we will also bring forward measures to restrict the availability of vapes to our children, looking at flavours, packaging displays and disposable vapes.”

Ministers have faced repeated calls to ban vapes to help protect children and reduce the significant environmental impact of the single-use products.

The government set out an ambition in 2019 for England to be smoke free by 2030.

It commissioned a review, published last June and led by Dr Javed Khan, which made a series of recommendations, including increasing the legal age for buying tobacco.

He recommended that the age of sale should increase from 18, by one year every year, until no-one can buy a tobacco product.

Smoking causes around one in five cancer cases and more than one in four cancer deaths each year in the UK.

Almost six million people in England still smoke.

Dr Khan put the annual cost to society of smoking at around £17bn, with a cost of £2.4bn each year to the NHS alone.

Cancer Research UK’s chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “Raising the age of sale on tobacco products is a critical step on the road to creating the first ever smoke-free generation.”

But Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said: “Raising the age of sale of tobacco is creeping prohibition, but it won’t stop young people smoking because prohibition doesn’t work.

“Anyone who wants to smoke will buy tobacco abroad or from illicit sources.

“Future generations of adults who are considered old enough to vote, pay taxes, drive a car and drink alcohol are going to be treated like children and denied the right to buy a product that can be purchased legally by people a year older than them.”

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Migrants to be deported to France ‘within weeks’ – as Farage vows to scrap human rights law

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Migrants to be deported to France 'within weeks' - as Farage vows to scrap human rights law

Nigel Farage has said he would scrap the UK’s human rights law to enable the mass deportation of illegal migrants, as the government reportedly prepares to send more than 100 small boat arrivals back to France.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph ahead of a speech later today, the Reform leader said the Human Rights Act would be ripped up should he become prime minister.

Politics Hub: Follow live updates

He would also take the country out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other international treaties, describing them as “malign influences” which had been “allowed to frustrate deportations”.

Pulling Britain out of the ECHR would make it one of only three European countries not signed up – the others being Russia and Belarus.

The UK’s Human Rights Act, Reform say, would be replaced by a British Bill of Rights. This would only apply to British citizens and those with a legal right to live in the UK.

Small boat arrivals would have no right to claim asylum. They would be housed at old military bases before being deported to their country of origin, or third countries like Rwanda.

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Will Starmer’s migration tough talk deliver?

One in, one out

Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, is said to be ready to implement one of his major policies to tackle the small boats crisis within weeks.

According to The Times, the one in, one out migrant deal he signed with France’s Emmanuel Macron earlier this summer will soon see more than 100 people sent back.

The newspaper reported there are dozens of migrants currently in detention, including some arrested over the bank holiday weekend, who could be among the first sent back to France.

In exchange, the UK would be expected to take an equal number of asylum seekers in France with ties to Britain.

Read more: How will the one in, one out deal work?

Sir Keir Starmer hopes his deal with Emmanuel Macron will help. Pic: Reuters
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Sir Keir Starmer hopes his deal with Emmanuel Macron will help. Pic: Reuters

A record 28,288 people have crossed the Channel in small boats this year. The total is 46% higher than at the same stage last year.

More boats were seen crossing on Monday, though the figures won’t be published by the Home Office until later.

Sir Keir is under mounting pressure within his own party to grip the issue, with Sir Tony Blair’s former home secretary Lord Blunkett warning the public “will turn on” him.

But they may already have – a YouGov poll over the weekend found 71% of people think the prime minister is dealing with the small boats crisis badly.

Protests have taken place outside hotels used to house asylum seekers over the weekend, and the government is braced for more legal challenges from councils over their use.

Labour have taken a battering in the opinion polls throughout 2025, with Reform consistently in the lead.

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Three die and a fourth in serious condition in hospital after helicopter crash on Isle of Wight

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Three die and a fourth in serious condition in hospital after helicopter crash on Isle of Wight

Three people have died following a helicopter crash during a flying lesson on the Isle of Wight.

A fourth person is in hospital in a serious condition following the incident, according to Hampshire Police.

Officers were called to the scene of a “helicopter that had come down” off Shanklin Road near Ventnor at 9.24am on Monday, the force said.

A spokesman for the aircraft’s owner Northumbria Helicopters said G-OCLV – which is listed as a Robinson R44 II helicopter – was involved in the accident during a flying lesson.

Fire and rescue vehicles at the scene near Ventnor. Pic: Stu Southwell
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Fire and rescue vehicles at the scene near Ventnor. Pic: Stu Southwell

Aerial view of the crash site
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Aerial view of the crash site

Helicopter ‘spiralled out of sight’ – live updates

Four people, including the pilot, were on board the aircraft, which departed nearby Sandown Airport at 9am, the company also said in a statement.

A critical care team, including a doctor and specialist paramedic, was also sent to the crash site, Hants and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance added, alongside fire engines and other emergency vehicles.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch confirmed it was alerted to the incident and is sending a team to investigate. A major incident was declared but has since been stood down.

A spokesperson for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance said in a statement: “We have treated and airlifted one patient to the Major Trauma Centre, University Hospital Southampton. Our thoughts are with them, and everyone involved in today’s incident.”

Darren Toogood, editor and publisher at the Island Echo, told Sky News presenter Kamali Melbourne the helicopter crashed on a “significantly busy, high-speed road” between the village of Godshill and the seaside town of Shanklin.

“It was on one of the first flights of the day,” he said.

“It’s a bank holiday weekend in August on the Isle of Wight. It’s an incredibly busy area. Lots of tourists down at the moment. It appears no vehicles were involved, which is incredible, given how busy this road would have been this morning.”

A witness, Leigh Goldsmith, told the Isle of Wight County Press she saw the helicopter “spiralling” before crashing into a hedge as she drove along the road.

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Police have closed Shanklin Road, blocking it off with several emergency vehicles, and are warning people to avoid the area.

Northumbria Helicopters said it is “giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident”.

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Ten organisations write urgent letter to home secretary over violence against women and girls strategy

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Ten organisations write urgent letter to home secretary over violence against women and girls strategy

Ten child protection organisations have written an urgent letter to the home secretary expressing concern about the omission of child sexual abuse from the government’s violence against women and girls strategy, following a Sky News report. 

Groups including the NSPCC, Barnardo’s and The Internet Watch Foundation wrote to Yvette Cooper to say that violence against women and girls (VAWG) and child sexual abuse are “inherently and deeply connected”, suggesting any “serious strategy” to address VAWG needs to focus on child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The letter comes after Sky News revealed an internal Home Office document, titled Our draft definition of VAWG, which said that child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “explicitly within the scope” of their strategy, due to be published in September.

Poppy Eyre when she was four years old
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Poppy Eyre when she was four years old

Responding to Sky News’ original report, Poppy Eyre, who was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four, said: “VAWG is – violence against women and girls. If you take child sexual abuse out of it, where are the girls?”

The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which is funded by the Home Office and a signatory to the letter, estimates 500,000 children in England and Wales are sexually abused every year.

The NSPCC “welcome” the government’s pledge to halve VAWG in a decade, but is “worried that if they are going to fulfil this commitment, the strategy absolutely has to include clear deliverable objectives to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation too”, the head of policy, Anna Edmundson, told Sky News.

Poppy is a survivor of child sexual abuse
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Poppy is a survivor of child sexual abuse

She warned the government “will miss a golden opportunity” and the needs of thousands of girls will be “overlooked” if child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “at the heart of its flagship strategy”.

The government insists the VAWG programme will include action to tackle child sexual abuse, but says it also wants to create a distinctive plan to “ensure those crimes get the specialist response they demand”.

“My message to the government is that if you’re going to make child sexual abuse a separate thing, we need it now,” Poppy told Sky News.

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Rape Crisis, which is one of the largest organisations providing support to women in England and Wales, shares these concerns.

It wants plans to tackle child sexual abuse to be part of the strategy, and not to sit outside it.

The internal Home Office document detailing its violence against women and girls strategy
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The internal Home Office document detailing its violence against women and girls strategy

“If a violence against women and girls strategy doesn’t include sexual violence towards girls, then it runs the risk of being a strategy for addressing some violence towards some females, but not all,” chief executive Ciara Bergman said.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government is “working tirelessly to tackle the appalling crimes of violence against women and girls and child sexual exploitation and abuse, as part of our Safer Streets mission”.

“We are already investing in new programmes and introducing landmark laws to overhaul the policing and criminal justice response to these crimes, as well as acting on the recommendations of Baroness Casey’s review into group-based Child Sexual Exploitation, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse,” they added.

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