He’s having a tough time of it at the moment, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Andrew Gwynne. You see, I went to sixth form in his then patch when I was already an active, and surely irritating, young Conservative. When my more left-wing classmates were doing work experience with him (and I don’t know if Andrew remembers this) he made it clear he’d take me on too, despite my politics. I didn’t take him up on the offer, but I thought it spoke well of the man, and it stuck with me.
That’s why I gave him the benefit of the doubt when he referred to me as ‘the hon. Member for the Institute of Economic Affairs’ in the recent Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee. Seeing a smile creep to my face he hastened to add, ‘He probably sees that as a compliment, but believe me, it really is not’. Regardless, I took it as such. Conservatives should be sticking up for informed adult choice and, where restricting it, should do so in a proportionate evidence-based way. Unfortunately, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill doesn’t do that and while Labour have undoubtedly made it worse – shamefully it was our legislation in the first place.
We got a pasting last July. The task that belongs to us few survivors is renewal – rediscovering those conservative principles that have historically made us so successful. A good starting point would be remembering that the Conservative party has traditionally stood for individual liberty, personal responsibility and the free market.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill flies in the face of all of these principles. Most significantly, it introduces a so-called ‘generational ban’ on tobacco products, depriving anyone born after 1 January 2009 from the joys of a Montecristo No. 2. Shame. Being an MP exposes you to people with some pretty wacky views, but I’ve yet to find an adult who doesn’t know smoking ain’t great for them. In my book, as long as the external healthcare cost socialised onto all of us is covered by duty, the state should mind its own damn business. But that fight, for now, is over. In 2053, an 18-year-old Saturday lad in a corner shop will be able to sell cigarettes to a 43-year-old but not a 42-year-old, creating two tiers of adults. Good luck policing that one.
But the bill is a nonsense in its own terms. A ‘smoke-free generation’ is its clarion call, but isn’t that process already well underway? Millions of British smokers have abandoned cigarettes in the past decade – we have all observed that. With this bill, the government is risking snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The massive reduction in smoking we have already seen has been driven, in part, by innovations like vaping and other smoke-free alternatives. There are now almost as many vapers as there are smokers and the majority of them were already smoking when they began. Even now, ex-minister Gwynne admits that vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking and should be encouraged among smokers, but this bill hampers the effectiveness of vaping as a legitimate cessation tool. It risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The public kicked us out because of bills like this one
Candyfloss-rainbow-unicorn flavours clearly aimed at children have no place on newsagent shelves: they should be banned. But a blanket ban on all marketing will prevent vapes from being advertised to the adult smokers who would benefit from them. Even the NHS encourages vaping as a smoking alternative through the ‘Swap to Stop’ scheme. Banning the advertising or promotion of vapes could well be counterproductive to the very thing the bill sets out to achieve. We need to apply common sense. That’s why I’m tabling an amendment that would require the secretary of state to consult on this proposal so we can at least give retailers, consumers and the industry the chance to have their voices heard. The consumer voice in particular has been largely absent from the process to date.
Other measures just don’t make sense. Banning the use or sale of vapes in pubs and nightclubs, where everyone is already 18, will just inconvenience people who have already switched away from cigarettes. The same goes for banning vaping in your own car or the bizarre suggestion of ‘vape-free places’ which will force vapers next to smokers, goading them with the very vice we want them to avoid.
This bill is bad, but it can be improved. I hope that at report stage my proposed amendments get more of a constructive hearing than in committee. I’ve got little hope the Labour party will listen to me, but in my own party I have more faith. If the Conservative party wants to get back on the pitch, we must recognise that the broad conservative majority in this country didn’t abandon their traditional good sense, the Conservative party did.
We can hardly moan about getting a pasting last summer; the public kicked us out and bills like this one or the Football Governance Bill (wrapping an unrivalled sporting, financial and soft power success in its very own quango) tell us why. Both were borne of a Conservative government, but neither is animated by conservative principle. Still, I say there is hope for my party. Kemi Badenoch voted against both bills at second reading: rediscovery of our principles is on; renewal beckons.
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