UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to make cigarettes ultra vires for youngsters

In what appears as a leaf out of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is contemplating a ban on cigarettes. 

In this regard, he is considering introducing some of the world’s toughest laws that would effectively make it impossible for the next generation to buy cigarettes. 

One of the measures is to increase the age of buying tobacco products, which effectively means that those born on or after January 1, 2009 do not get access to cigarettes. 

Reports note that in New Zealand, Ardern had brought in legislation to reduce nicotine content in tobacco products and sell such products only through special tobacco stores rather than conventional stores. 

As per a Financial Times report, a government spokesperson said: “Smoking is a deadly habit — it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy.”

Additionally, the spox said, “We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates.”