Parliament Matters

Tristan Osborne, the Labour MP for Chatham and Aylesford, asked the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions have been had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the introduction of a vape retailer licensing scheme.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary Alex Norris replied: “The landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be the biggest public health intervention in a generation—tackling the harms of smoking, breaking the cycle of addition, and paving the way for a smoke-free UK. The Bill provides powers for Ministers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vapes and nicotine products. This will strengthen enforcement and support Trading Standards to crack down on rogue retailers.

“The licensing scheme will be introduced in regulations, following consultation on the details of the scheme. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, and will continue to do so as the regulations are developed, to ensure the successful implementation of the scheme.”

John Hayes, Conservative MP for South Holland and The Deepings, asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care what steps are being taken to tackle the sale of illegal vapes in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary Ashley Dalton told him: “The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will strengthen enforcement and crack down on rogue retailers by enabling ministers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vapes, and nicotine products. The bill also enables the introduction of a new registration scheme for tobacco, vape, and nicotine products sold in the United Kingdom’s market. This will help ensure products are compliant with product safety standard requirements, and enable Trading Standards to remove non-compliant products from the market quickly and efficiently.

“In 2025/26 we will invest £10 million of new funding into Trading Standards, to enhance their work in tackling the illicit and underage sale of tobacco and vapes, and to support the implementation of the bill. This funding will be used to recruit approximately 80 new regionally coordinated apprentices in England. This will benefit all regions, including the East Midlands, which covers South Holland and the Deepings and Lincolnshire.

“The introduction of a new Vaping Products Duty in October 2026 will provide civil and criminal powers for HM Revenue and Customs to assess for duty and seize products and equipment used to produce or transport illicit vapes.”

Apprentice Trading Standards officers will have limited powers, unable to investigate on their own, and typically are given tasks such as checking scales and measures, and ensuring labelling is correct.

Rachel Blake, Labour/Co-op MP for the Cities of London and Westminster asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) what steps the Department is taking to reduce pollution from plastic cigarette butts.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary Mary Creagh informed Blake: “Cigarette butts are the most littered item according to a survey commissioned by Defra. Littered filters are not just an eyesore, they can also release toxins into the environment. The best way to reduce cigarette litter is to reduce smoking rates and we continue to support all measures that do so. We will however continue to monitor the available evidence on the prevalence of littered cigarette filters.

“Dropping litter, including cigarette butts, is a crime and councils can issue fixed penalty notices of up to £500. An effective and proportionate local enforcement strategy can deter people from littering.”

Clearly, the best thing the government can do is to encourage smokers to switch to vaping as it is both the most cost-effective measure and vaping has been shown to be up to three times more effective at helping smokers quit than any other intervention.

Both Blake and Creagh support the anti-vape measures contained within the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

And talking about the Bill, speaking during the House of Commons Easter Adjournment debate, Tory MP Bob Blackman said: “I am also pleased that we soared through the Third Reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. I welcome the Government’s ambition to inherit the goals of the previous Conservative Administration to eradicate smoking from society and tackle youth vaping. I hope that the other place will be just as favourable to ensure that we can swiftly protect future generations from this harm.”

As noted in our article on the Lords’ Debate, Earl Howe warned about the overreach contained within the Bill that ignores expert evidence regarding flavours. Blackman has taken the un-Conservative view that flavours should be banned.

“I look forward to working on the Bill further,” he continued, “scrutinising it and ensuring that all appropriate amendments are adopted so that we can achieve a smoke-free society in our lifetimes. I pay particular tribute to my friends at Action on Smoking and Health, who have been tireless in providing briefings and meetings and hosting events for colleagues and myself.”

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

View Articles

Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.