Will the smoking ban be subject to a ‘nanny state’ backlash?

Published

1 year ago

January 28, 2024

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As smoking has been increasingly curtailed in public, it’s easy to forget that it’s still one of the leading causes of death and illness in the UK.

It kills around half of those who smoke, making it the biggest one that’s entirely preventable. The habit kills 76,000 people a year, according to the NHS.

Rishi Sunak has backed some radical steps, including a lifetime ban on ban on smoking cigarettes for those currently aged under 15 – to be achieved by raising the legal smoking age by a year, every year.

Under the plans, those born after Jan 2009 would never be allowed to buy them.

And now we can add a proposed ban on disposable vapes, which with their colourful branding and low-price tag, are blamed for driving a nine-fold surge in teenage smoking in just two years.

From a public health perspective, it’s being hailed as a game-changer, and the vaping ban will reassure the message boards full of worried parents of teenagers.

But there’s still something about the ban on cigarettes altogether, that sits uneasily, particularly with politicians on the right.

Boris Johnson recently slammed the idea of the gradual smoking ban as “barmy” and unworkable, claiming it would “criminalise yet another variety of ordinary behaviour”.

Free marketeer Liz Truss – who warned her party against “banning things” – tonight says protecting children is one thing, but “adults must be able to make their own choices about their own lives.”

“A Conservative government should not be seeking to extend the nanny state”, she said.

Two disgruntled enemies of the prime minister, perhaps. But this week reports emerged that other libertarian Tory MPs are urging him to replace the ban with a rise in the smoking age to 21.

They are concerned it is a “sideshow”, and the policy of age discrimination – which as this generation get holder, would require adults to show ID to buy tobacco – would cause confusion.

When these proposals come before parliament, they will likely get Labour support – but Sunak will want to limit any rebellion on his own side.

All anti-smoking measures – from the ban on smoking indoors in the UK in 2007, to plain packaging and a ban on smoking in cars with children – had their detractors, who said they were illiberal and unworkable. But in the end, they were approved comfortably by MPs.

Vapes won’t be the controversial bit. Banning disposable vapes, on both health and environmental grounds is spreading.

According to the World Health Organisation 34 countries have banned them – including Brazil, India and Norway – although various degrees of success, and 87 have introduced restrictions.

The gradual smoking ban is trickier in terms of enforcement. The proposals were inspired by pioneering new laws passed in New Zealand, which its new government has now decided to scrap.

The prime minister responded that he’d thought long and hard about the ban and will go it alone.

As Tory MPs took in the news, first announced at the Conservative party conference last October, it came as a surprise to those who noted that he delayed a ban on buy-one-get-one free junk foods just months earlier – claiming it interfered with people’s “right to choose” on a tight budget.

The difference with smoking, he said, was that – unlike other vices – there is no safe level for it.

Health experts warn that smoking is associated with poverty, and a ban would need to be backed by other measures including support to stop smoking, for which local government budgets are limited.

Whether these smoking measures are judged to be workable could be the test for whether ministers have, most likely after the election, a fresh look at restrictions in other difficult areas.

UK

‘A constant game of cat and mouse’: Inside the crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

Published

42 mins ago

July 10, 2025

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'A constant game of cat and mouse': Inside the crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.

“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.

“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”

Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.

The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.

“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.

“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”

Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.

He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.

He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.

We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.

Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.

This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.

Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’s retail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.

She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.

“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.

“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”

There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.

Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.

But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.

“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.

The gig economy – so prevalent in every city – creates another incentive for those wanting to risk their lives coming to the UK illegally.

More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel to the UK in 2025 – a record number at this point of the year.

For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.

There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.

As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.

UK

This flimsy vessel carrying migrants could reach British waters in a few hours’ time

Published

3 hours ago

July 10, 2025

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This flimsy vessel carrying migrants could reach British waters in a few hours' time

We see the boat from a distance – the orange of the life jackets reflected in the rising sun.

And as we draw closer, we can make out dozens of people crowded on board as it sets off from the shore, from a beach near Dunkirk.

There is no sign of any police activity on the shore, and there are no police vessels in the water.

Instead, the migrants crammed into an inflatable dinghy are being watched by us, on board a private boat, and the looming figure of the Minck, a French search and rescue ship that soon arrives.

The dinghy meanders. It’s not heading towards Britain but rather hugging the coast.

A few of the passengers wave at us cheerfully, but then the boat starts to head back towards the shore.

As it nears a different beach, we see a police vehicle – a dune buggy – heading down to meet it.

Normal practice is for French police officers to slice through the material of any of these small boats that end up back on shore.

Two police officers get out of the buggy and wait. A police helicopter arrives and circles above, performing a tight circle over the heads of the migrants.

The police think they might be about to go back on to the beach; in fact, these passengers know that most of them are staying put.

The boat stops a short distance from the shore and four people jump out. As they wade towards the beach, the boat turns and starts to head back out to sea.

We see the two police officers approach these four men and have a brief conversation.

They don’t appear to check the bags they are carrying and, if they do question them about why they left the boat, it is the most cursory of conversations.

In reality, these people probably don’t speak French but they were almost certainly involved in arranging this crossing, which is against the law. But all four walk away, disappearing into the dunes at the back of the beach.

We follow the boat as it chugs off in the direction of Britain, carrying around 50 people.

The Minck returns to shadowing its progress, but its job is limited to offering help if the boat gets into trouble.

Otherwise, if the engine keeps working, then this flimsy vessel will reach British waters in a few hours’ time.

UK

‘A constant game of cat and mouse’: Inside the police crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

Published

6 hours ago

July 10, 2025

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