MP quit smoking after voting to ban cigarette sales to young people
Labour MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter backed the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and gave up smoking herself.
A Labour MP quit smoking on the day she backed plans to ban cigarette sales to people who are now aged 16 or younger, she has said.
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter said vapes helped her to put down conventional cigarettes last year, as she warned that “colossal puff” products had entered the market ahead of new regulations.
The Suffolk Coastal MP attempted to amend the Government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill on Wednesday, to give ministers an immediate duty to ban vape ‘mods’ and extensions which would increase the amount of e-liquid per device beyond the 2ml per tank limit.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill already featured provision for the Health Secretary to regulate the appearance, size and shape of vaping products.
The Bill, which MPs backed at its third reading 366 votes to 41, majority 325, would also ban the sale of tobacco products, herbal smoking products and cigarette papers to people born on or after January 1 2009, in an effort to “create a smoke-free generation”.
Health minister Ashley Dalton rejected Ms Riddell-Carpenter’s proposal, as she said regulations could better capture the “technical details” needed to tackle high puff count products.
Ms Dalton herself revealed in the Commons that “it took a cancer diagnosis to scare” her into giving up cigarettes.
Ms Riddell-Carpenter said: “At the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in November, I gave up smoking.
“I gave up smoking on that very day because I had just voted on the second reading of a Bill that would mean my nieces and nephews would never legally be able to smoke.
“I’ve tried to give up smoking before and the last time was just before the general election, so in truth, I never stood a chance of being able to succeed.
“But I’ve only been able to succeed this time because I’ve moved to vapes.”
The MP went on to say that children taking up vaping is “one of the most concerning crises facing young people and children today”.
She warned that products have “come onto the market that can allow people to attach refillable 10ml pods to the vapes, meaning that in effect, it is a 3,000-puff vape”.
Ms Riddell-Carpenter said: “This isn’t ‘big puff’ vape, this is ‘colossal puff’ vape.”
She said her proposal would “limit the size sooner and prevent rogue vape manufacturers from circumventing the rules whilst the Secretary of State undertakes further consultation on these measures”.
Ms Dalton told the Commons: “I started smoking at the age of 16 and decided I could stop when I was 18.
“I couldn’t. ‘I know, I’ll decide to stop when I’m 21’.
“And then it was 25. And then it was when I graduated. And then it was when I had a child.
“At no point was I able to give up this pernicious addiction.
“It took a cancer diagnosis to scare me into being able to stop smoking and I do not wish that upon any of our young people.”
Responding to Ms Riddell-Carpenter, the health minister said: “The Bill already provides the Government with powers to limit the amount of nicotine in a nicotine pouch, to regulate vaping products in such a way that would prohibit the sale of high puff count vaping devices, including setting tank capacity limits or devices where multiple refill tanks are attached, and to ban any other ingredient that may be harmful.”
The Bill will now undergo scrutiny in the House of Lords.