Children aged 17 or younger will face a lifelong ban on buying cigarettes, as the Tobacco and Vapes Bill clears Parliament.
Both the Commons and Lords have settled on a final draft of the “landmark” legislation that aims to stop anyone born after 1 January 2009 from taking up smoking by making it illegal for shops to sell them tobacco, to create a smoke-free generation.
When it gets royal assent, ministers will also have new powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging.
It is part of a series of measures aimed at tackling the health effects of smoking, one of the UK’s leading causes of preventable death, disability and ill health.
Vaping will be banned in cars carrying children, in playgrounds and outside schools and at hospitals, expanding smoke-free laws.
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