00:00The Tobacco and Vapes Bill that we're introducing into Parliament today is a groundbreaking historic piece of public health legislation,
00:06not only ensuring the creation of Britain's first ever smoke-free generation,
00:10by making sure that children growing up in our country today are never legally able to buy cigarettes,
00:15we'll be clamping down on smoking outside schools, hospitals, children's playgrounds,
00:22and taking bold action to clamp down on the scourge of youth vaping,
00:27not just through tackling the flavours, the marketing, the packaging that's clearly been designed to addict children to nicotine,
00:33but also introducing a new licensing and enforcement regime so that retailers aren't selling vapes to underage customers.
00:41Taken together, this is a bold package to tackle one of Britain's biggest killers and to tackle addiction,
00:47and it's something that I hope will command cross-party support that we will all be able to be proud of.
00:52Smoking remains one of Britain's biggest killers. 80,000 lives a year lost.
00:57The cost to the taxpayer and to the NHS is enormous.
01:01It's right we're taking bold action through the smoke-free generation,
01:05through tackling outdoor smoking in places like schools and playgrounds and hospitals,
01:12because of the direct impact and the risk of second-hand smoking.
01:16We've considered carefully whether or not to extend an outdoor smoking ban to outdoor hospitality spaces,
01:22like pub beer gardens, for example.
01:25And as ever, we've had to judge the upside opportunities in terms of public health
01:31with the downside risks either to people's liberties or to people's livelihoods.
01:35And given the pressures on UK hospitality, which I think are well known and we've seen in recent years,
01:40we think we're drawing the balance in the right place with this bill.
01:43We're going to consult widely on all of the measures in the bill,
01:46and as ever, people will tell us if they think we've got the balance right,
01:49and we'll be consulting once the bill has passed through Parliament.
Comments