The legal age for buying tobacco should rise every year, the Prime Minister has said as he announced new proposals to crack down on smoking. Rishi Sunak said more must be done to "try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place".
Last year a major review led by Dr Javed Khan backed England following in the footsteps of New Zealand, which is planning to impose a gradually rising smoking age to prevent tobacco being sold to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009. Dr Khan recommended “increasing the age of sale from 18, by one year, every year until no-one can buy a tobacco product in this country”.
The legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products in England and Wales is 18, having been raised from 16 in 2007 by the previous Labour government. The devolved governments have independence over health-related legislation.