United Kingdom: Market data & legal analysis of the nicotine sector

23rd October 2024: UK: Minister of health Wes Streeting has said the Labour government will introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to Parliament before Christmas this year, press reports. Streeting also said the new bill will be more ambitious than the one proposed by the Conservative government in the last legislature. The Labour bloc voted unanimously in favour of the previous bill, but it was left unapproved before the dissolution of Parliament for the general elections in July 2024.
16th October 2024: UK: Answering a parliamentary question on whether the new Labour government will incorporate the amendments to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that were proposed during the previous legislature (by the previous Conservative government), the secretary of state for health and social care Wes Streeting said that the Labour government will “bring back a Tobacco and Vapes Bill that is stronger than the Conservatives' one”.
10th September 2024: UK: Parliamentary under-secretary for health and social care Andrew Gwynne said yesterday that details on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be set out “very soon”.
5th September 2024: UK: Parliamentary under-secretary for health and social care Gillian Merron said, as a response to a parliamentary question, that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be introduced “soon”. Merron refused to provide a specific timeline, despite the request from Labour member of parliament George Foulkes to indicate a clear timeline.
3rd September 2024: UK: Answering a parliamentary question, the parliamentary under-secretary for health and social care Andrew Gwynne said the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be introduced to parliament “in the coming weeks”, and that an impact assessment (most likely different from the one published under the previous Conservative-led government) will be published early in the passage of the bill.
17th July 2024: UK: During today’s king’s speech at the state opening of Parliament, King Charles III said that the ruling Labour government will bring forward legislation to “progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes”. These were among the provisions that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill included, and are aligned with what is proposed in the Labour political programme for the 2024 elections, namely to “ensure the next generation can never legally buy cigarettes” and banning vapes “from being branded and advertised to appeal to children to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine”. The background briefing states that the new government will reintroduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, proposed by the previous Conservative government and voted for unanimously by the Labour party in the House of Commons.
5th July 2024: UK: Pending the counting of all votes, the general election held yesterday (4th July) has resulted in the Labour Party gaining the majority of seats in Parliament – ending 14 years of consecutive Conservative-led governments. As shown in our Policy Radar, the Labour Party is likely to have a stricter view towards novel tobacco and nicotine products than the Conservative government – despite the latter proposing a ban on disposable vaping products, a comprehensive regulation of vaping products and a generational ban on tobacco products. It is likely that the Labour Party will continue this prohibitive approach, although it is unclear whether it will do so by introducing its own proposals or by refloating those initiated by the Conservatives.
13th June 2024: UK: Today, the Labour Party – the main opposition party prior to the dissolution of the parliament – published its electoral programme for the elections that will take place on 4th July. In it, the party says it will “ensure the next generation can never legally buy cigarettes” and pledges to ban vapes “from being branded and advertised to appeal to children to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine”.
12th June 2024: UK: The Conservative Party – the ruling party prior to the dissolution of the parliament – has recently published its electoral manifesto for the elections that prime minister Rishi Sunak called to be held on 4th July 2024. In it, the party pledges to “bring forward our landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill in our first King’s Speech”. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is the March 2024 proposal from the Conservative Party to introduce a generational ban on tobacco products and to empower the government to regulate vapes and other nicotine products.
12th June 2024: UK: The Liberal Democrats party, which held 15 seats in the House of Commons (lower chamber of the parliament) before the dissolution of the parliament, has recently published its electoral manifesto for the elections that will take place on 4th July 2024. In it, the party pledges to introduce regulations “to halt the dangerous use of vapes by children while recognising their role in smoking cessation for adults”, and to ban the sale of single-use disposable e-cigarettes. It also pledges to introduce a new levy on tobacco company profits to help fund healthcare and smoking cessation services.
24th May 2024: UK: The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will not be finalised before the prorogation of Parliament ahead of the national election that will take place on 4th July. The bill is not included in the list of business that will be addressed before the current parliamentary session comes to an end today.
23rd May 2024: UK: Yesterday, 22nd May, prime minister Rishi Sunak called for UK snap general elections to take place on 4th July 2024, after they were initially scheduled for January 2025. The main opposition Labour party is currently leading the polls, and should it reach power, that would mean the end of a 14-year Conservative-led government. Despite the Labour party being initially seen as having a much stricter view towards the novel tobacco and nicotine products industry, the package of tough measures recently announced by the Conservative government has proven that a Conservative government can be as restrictive as a Labour one, as shown in our Policy Radar. Nonetheless, the Labour party might have a slightly stricter view, as shown by the fact that all Labour members of Parliament (MPs) voted in favour of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, while some Conservative MPs voted against it, alleging that the bill ran counter to the Conservatives’ spirit.

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