As Westminster and Dublin compete with performative new tobacco bans, smokers on the island of Ireland will be forced to dodge between jurisdictions and shifting laws just to buy a pack of cigarettes.
Starting in February 2028, adults under the age of 21 in the Republic of Ireland will be barred from buying tobacco at home but will still be able to nip across the border to stock up in Northern Ireland. But once the UK’s generational smoking ban begins, the farcical cross-border relay will reverse, with 22-year-olds banned from buying tobacco in Belfast still free to do so in Dublin.
As the years go by, the legal absurdity only deepens. A 43-year-old won’t be able to buy a pack of cigarettes in Enniskillen legally, but a 44-year-old will – while just down the road in Donegal, both can freely. It’s amusing, yes, but smugglers, criminal gangs, and the paramilitary remnants already involved in illicit trade will soon realise how profitable it is to run cigarettes across the border.
I’m a former athlete and Labour sports minister. I don’t smoke. I have no particular love for tobacco, and this policy won’t impact me personally. But this isn’t just about public health. This law is a draconian restriction on individual freedom and, equally troubling, and less widely reported, its implementation in Northern Ireland risks confusion, chaos, and dragging the province further from the UK.
Remember when Labour said harmonisation across the Irish border was sacred? When Remainers warned of catastrophe if Brexit meant the slightest disruption? Sir Keir Starmer, as shadow Brexit minister, claimed Brexiteers were playing with fire and ignoring problems. We were told that even a camera on the border would be an affront to peace.
And so, with the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland was left shackled to the EU’s single market. A border was created in the Irish Sea, and my home moved one step further away from the rest of the UK, governed by foreign laws no one in Britain voted for. And now, one of those laws may block this very smoking ban the government is so keen on implementing.
When the Republic of Ireland looked into introducing its own version of a generational smoking ban, its government said they couldn’t proceed, ‘due to the EU’s single market rules and Tobacco Products Directive’.
The Windsor Framework is crystal clear: that same directive continues to apply in Northern Ireland. And the directive is crystal clear: it prohibits member states from banning any product that complies with the EU’s tobacco regulations. If the generational smoking ban is interpreted as a ban (which is exactly how the Republic of Ireland’s advisers appear to have seen it and how one of the UK government’s own Brexit lawyers has said it can be reasonably understood), then introducing such a measure in Northern Ireland would breach EU law. The Spectator’s own Steerpike noted this in November.
And there is one thing we know about Sir Keir Starmer and his inscrutable attorney general: they are firmly against breaching international law.
This issue has repeatedly been raised with Lord Hermer and the relevant government departments. They have bluntly refused to engage, presumably because it involves the grubby issue of tobacco.
We’ve seen how far this government will go in the name of ‘international law’ – they’ll give away the Chagos Islands to a regime with ties to Beijing and call it justice. But when it comes to a more apparent potential breach of international law here on British soil? Silence. Tobacco, it seems, is too fraught to even discuss.
And all the while, as they casually disregard EU law, this government claims to be rebuilding trust and closer ties with the EU.
It’s ironic. And for those of us who care about Northern Ireland, it’s insulting. These issues are not technicalities – they are fundamental questions about Northern Ireland’s security and integrity within the UK, and whether British law can be made and enforced equally across all parts of the United Kingdom. This is one of the most egregious issues yet to be thrown up by the deeply flawed Windsor Framework. But the government is too timid, or too self-righteous, to even mention it.
This is why an amendment to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be tabled in the House of Lords, replacing the generational ban with a simpler proposal to raise the legal smoking age to 21. I am not actively advocating for a higher purchase age, but this adjustment is infinitely more realistic than a generational ban. It would also align Northern Ireland’s approach with that of the Republic of Ireland, avoid incentivising cross-border smuggling, and remove any potential for Northern Ireland to be subject to different regulations as a result of EU interference.
Incidentally, too, Department for Health modelling data shows that increasing the age to 21 would have virtually the same effect on youth smoking rates as the generational smoking ban by 2050. So, you have to ask: why is this government so determined to become the first in the world to pursue this convoluted policy? What’s it all for?
It is vital that we register our resistance
Never mind that it would create a bizarre two-tier legal system, where adults of different ages are denied equal treatment before the law. Never mind the hammer blow it would deal to corner shops and small retailers already on the brink. Never mind the inevitable rise of the illicit tobacco trade and the ushering in of a new era of prohibition. And never mind the constitutional damage it would inflict on Northern Ireland and the unity of the United Kingdom.
The amendment may well be defeated in the Lords, and the Commons, of course, has already backed the generational smoking ban twice. But it is still vital that we register our resistance. When the authorities inevitably struggle to implement this absurd policy (as the Welsh Trading Standards body has already warned), when the EU intervenes under the terms of the Windsor Framework, when shop closures mount, the country will be forced to take a second look at this ill-conceived law, just as New Zealand did when it canned its version of the generational smoking ban in 2023.
It is our responsibility in the House of Lords to look beyond the self-righteousness and ideological certainty, and to speak up when we see clear and present problems. And a British parliamentarian has no greater duty than to defend our legislative sovereignty and preserve the Union.
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