Last week the Prime Minister announced new action the Government will take to reduce smoking rates in England. 

The Prime Minister in his Conference speech in Manchester announced the Government plans to legislate to ensure that children aged 14 or younger - anyone born on or after 1st April 2009 – can never legally be sold tobacco products. By 2040, these proposals will ensure that smoking is phased out completely among young people. 

As a former Health Minister, I know all too well that smoking is the single leading behavioural cause of preventable death across our country, responsible for around 1 in 4 cancer deaths and 64,000 premature deaths per year. Reducing smoking is crucial for ensuring we live longer, healthier lives. 

Significant progress has been made, with smoking rates now the lowest on record, thanks to duty on cigarettes having been doubled since 2010 and continued funding of stop smoking services. We also do well compared to our European counterparts – for example France has almost twice the percentage of the population that smokes compared to the UK (24.5% vs 12.9%) But reducing smoking rates further will help address the substantial cost to the economy and the NHS.  

To be clear, this legislation will be focused on those who sell tobacco products or buy it on behalf of someone else - the Government has never and will not criminalise smoking in this country. In addition, I want to clarify that a national licence scheme is not being proposed, which could have placed a greater burden on convenience stores. 

While I have thankfully not smoked myself, I harbour some concerns as a believer in freedom of the individual, about restricting the free choice of adults, particularly when progress is already being made to cut smoking rates through increased duty and other measures. I am also concerned about setting a precedent in which some adults in this country have greater freedom than others. New Zealand has already announced a similar policy, but it is yet to take effect, so we do not yet know the efficacy of the policy.  

The Prime Minister has stated the legislation will be subject to a free vote, and so I am keen to hear from constituents what you think the right approach would be. I have set up a survey at www.tellphilip.com, and encourage constituents to let me know their views.