The Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) welcomes the news that the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill has today received Royal Assent.
Despite significant progress over the last few decades, around 28.6 billion cigarettes are smoked in Britain every year, and tobacco causes the death of one person every five minutes in the UK. In addition, 20% of 11-17-year-olds in the UK have used e-cigarettes. The Tobacco and Vapes Act, which seeks to address these challenges, marks a significant step towards protecting the health of hundreds of thousands of people across the UK.
Key features of the Act include a provision making it illegal to sell tobacco products to, or purchase them for, anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, aiming to create a smoke-free generation. The Act also introduces restrictions on advertising and sponsorship of vaping products (including nicotine and non-nicotine vapes) and other nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches.
The Act also gives the government additional powers relating to nicotine products – including more regulatory power over flavours, display, and packaging – and the ability to introduce a licensing scheme for selling tobacco and nicotine products. With the passing of this legislation, the UK becomes one of the first countries in the world to adopt a generational sales ban. The Maldives enacted a similar policy in May 2025. New Zealand adopted a comparable policy in December 2022, but it was repealed following a change in government before it entered into force.
TCRG, part of the University of Bath’s Centre for 21st Century Public Health, has provided evidence in support of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, including through written consultation responses. Two members of TCRG also gave oral evidence at committee stage for an earlier 2023-4 version of the Bill, which fell ahead of the July 2024 General Election.
Throughout the policy process, TCRG has monitored tobacco industry activities and efforts to interfere in policymaking, highlighting relevant developments on Tobacco Tactics, TCRG’s knowledge exchange platform.
The team also analysed consultation and evidence submissions from the tobacco and nicotine industries on the 2023-4 version of the Bill. This research found that tobacco and nicotine companies, and linked actors, continued to use established industry arguments in seeking to influence the Bill in their favour.
Moving forward, it is crucial that the tobacco industry is not able to delay or inhibit the implementation of the Act, including the development of secondary legislation. TCRG will continue to monitor and call out tobacco industry attempts to undermine this far-reaching legislation.
Dr Rob Branston and Dr Allen Gallagher, TCRG Co-Directors, comment:
We are very pleased that this world-leading legislation, which has the potential to drastically improve health outcomes across the country, has now received Royal Assent. We commend everyone who has played a role in getting the policy to this stage.
However, there is still further work to be done in order to completely eliminate tobacco-related harm in the UK. Nevertheless, this landmark new Act, with its focus on viably moving toward a smokefree generation, is a major step in the right direction and a great public health achievement.
We look forward to seeing the positive impact of this groundbreaking legislation on future generations.