Never give up!
It frustrates me that many people are only just waking up to the generational tobacco sales ban.
I’ve lost count of the number of people who have criticised the policy – on social media and in print – since the Tobacco and Vapes Bill concluded its passage through parliament last week, following which there was an unexpected flurry of media reports.
But where were they when former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the policy at the Conservative Party conference in October 2023, or when the two variations of the Bill went through Parliament, the first time under the Conservatives (before the 2024 General Election put a spanner in the works), the second time under Labour.
Truth is, there was very little push back from members of the public and even less from ‘opinion’ journalists. Forest did its best, responding to the Government’s proposals and hosting a series of events in London (including Parliament) and at party conference, to which we invited MPs, peers and journalists.
We also published a report (The Price of Prohibition – How the Tobacco and Vapes Bill could trigger a bigger black market, more retail crime, and violent turf wars), which was distributed to politicians and journalists, and commissioned a series of polls that told a rather different story to that promoted by the likes of YouGov and ASH, but all to no avail. The media, by and large, wasn’t interested which meant that politicians weren’t listening either.
(It’s well known that MPs rarely take issues seriously unless they (a) have a personal interest in the matter, (b) receive a significant amount of correspondence on the subject from constituents, or (c) read about it in the media or hear the subject reported – albeit rarely debated – on the Today programme.)
The gen ban is a bit different but it reminds of when the smoking ban was finally introduced. Forest fought a three-year campaign against proposals for a public smoking ban. Like our subsequent opposition to plain packaging it was a relatively high profile campaign, and the issue was generally well covered by the mainstream media.
On July 1st, 2007, however, we got a surprising number of angry emails from people to whom the ban seemed to come like a bolt from the blue. “Disgraceful,” they complained, adding. “What are you going to do about it?” I realised then that many people don’t read or follow the news. They certainly don’t follow debates in parliament or write to their MP, even when encouraged to do so.
Anyway, I was booked to appear on The Stephen Nolan Show on Five Live last night to debate the generational ban with Hazel Cheeseman, CEO of ASH. A live interview was scheduled for 21:30. Due to events in Washington DC, however, it was pushed back to 22:30, then brought forward to 20:15 for a pre-recorded interview before that too was cancelled.
What’s the point, you might ask, of debating an issue when the law has already been passed by parliament. Isn’t it a bit late in the day? Actually, there’s every reason because with Reform committed to repealing the ban, there’s still everything to play for. Never give up!
