Thanks to everyone who attended our Freedom Up In Smoke lunch at Boisdale of Belgravia in London on Tuesday (May 21).

The aim of the event was to highlight the broad range of opposition to the generational smoking ban ahead of the third reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that was due to take place in June before the Bill moved on to the House of Lords.

Guests including MPs, parliamentary researchers, journalists, writers, and think tank representatives were therefore joined by stakeholders including industry, consumers, and small retailers (ie the very same stakeholders who had been denied a voice by the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee just a few weeks earlier).

Principal speakers were Mark Littlewood (above), director of Popular Conservatism (PopCon), and Reem Ibrahim, communications officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

We also invited contributions from Tatiana Camacho, secretary-general of the International Tobacco Products Advisory Council (ITPAC); Olivia Lever, director, Blue Beyond; retailer Paul Cheema; and writer and journalist Alexander Larman.

Tobacco Reporter covered the event here (Food for thought) but little did we know that 24 hours later the prime minister would call a general election on July 4, inadvertently sinking one of the flagship bills he hoped would leave a lasting personal legacy.

You couldn't make it up.

The Labour Party has already intimated that it will resurrect the generational smoking ban if it wins the election and, in the unlikely event that the Conservatives are returned to power, Rishi Sunak has also declared that it will be a priority for the new government.

Nevertheless, we have a welcome stay of execution and over the next few weeks we will be examining what we could and perhaps should have done better in terms of campaigning against the ban.

In the meantime, a quick recap on some of our efforts to date ...

Prior to the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill on April 16 Forest lobbied members of parliament by sending a leaflet (Say No To Nanny!) with a covering letter to every Conservative MP.

The Bill was opposed by 57 Tory MPs with many more choosing not to vote at the second reading. Unable to attend our Freedom Up In Smoke lunch, one of them, Sir Philip Davies MP, sent us this message:

This legislation is utterly absurd. Not only is it illiberal, and a triumph for the nanny state – treating adults as children – it is also completely unenforceable. 

In years to come are we really expecting shops to ask 51-year-olds for ID to ensure they are not 50? Are trading standards going to send in 48-year-olds to see if a rogue shop sells them a packet of fags despite them being three years below the new age limit? 

I look forward to voting against this nonsensical and embarrassing Bill at third reading.

Our hope was that many more Conservative MPs who had yet to declare their position would join Sir Philip in voting against the Bill at the third reading. It's irrelevant now but we believe the threat of an even greater rebellion among Tory MPs was one of the reasons why the Bill had not yet gone to third reading.

If you were one of those who, following our earlier plea, wrote to your MP opposing the Bill, thank you! Every little helps, as someone once said.

Forest in the House

In February we took our campaign against the generational smoking ban to the heart of government.

Sponsored by Giles Watling MP, we hosted a small reception at the House of Commons. Numbers were restricted by the size of the venue (which was booked at short notice) but we had a full house including MPs, peers, and parliamentary researchers.

Speakers included Baroness Fox and the IEA's Reem Ibrahim (below). 

Other guests included representatives of various think tanks and pressure groups including the Institute of Economic Affairs, Adam Smith Institute, TaxPayers Alliance, Consumer Choice Center, Students for Liberty, LSEHayek Society, and Blue Beyond, a grassroots initiative that engages with young Conservatives.

Describing the event as ‘lively, going on boisterous at times’, journalist George Gay wrote: 

The UK’s proposed generational tobacco products ban was variously described as nuts, insane, ludicrous, mad, illiberal, impractical and petty minded by speakers …

Sounds about right.

Polling says no!

We have repeatedly been told that the public supports a generational ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Research commissioned by Forest and sent to MPs suggests otherwise. In January, for example, we invited Yonder Consulting (formerly Populus) to ask the question:

In the UK the age at which you are legally an adult is 18. At that age a person can vote, drive a car, join the army, buy alcohol, and possess a credit card. Do you think that when a person is legally an adult they should or should not also be allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products?

The response was unequivocal – 64% (a substantial majority) agreed. Only a quarter (26%) disagreed, while 10% didn't know.



Subsequent research commissioned by Forest asked 2,000 respondents to rate ten topical issues in terms of priority for government.

Improving the health service was the most important priority, followed by tackling crime, and tackling inflation.

Other top priorities were tackling illegal immigration, addressing care for the elderly, tackling climate change, tackling the housing shortage, and reforming and improving the education system.

Not for the first time, 'tackling smoking' was at the bottom of the list, alongside 'tackling obesity'. 

It seems a long time ago now but in November we kick started our campaign against the generational smoking ban with an event at Old Queen Street Cafe in Westminster.

The event also marked the publication of Freedom: Up In Smoke, a short essay by Forest director Simon Clark that was published as part of the Letters on Liberty series of booklets published by the Academy of Ideas.

Ella Whelan, editor of Letters on Liberty, was one of our panel of speakers, together with Baroness Fox (director of the Academy of Ideas), Reem Ibrahim (Institute of Economic Affairs), and Henry Hill (ConservativeHome).

The event attracted a full house, so many thanks to everyone who came along. It certainly gave us a lift to know the level of support our campaign was generating.

The prospect of a generational smoking ban sparked a frenzy of media interviews when the policy was announced by Rishi Sunak at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester in October.

Forest director Simon Clark appeared on BBC Breakfast (BBC1), the Five Live phone-in (with Nicky Campbell), BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio London, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Scotland, Channel 5 News, TalkTV, Times Radio, and Sky News Radio.

Our reaction to Sunak's announcement (PM accused of "creeping prohibition") was also reported by BBC News, ITV News, Sky News, MailOnline, Daily Express, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent, The Sun, Daily Record, Press Association, Wales Online, Perspective Magazine, Reason Magazine, Washington Examiner and many more.

Most recently, following the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in April, Clark was interviewed by BBC Radio Wales, BBC Look North, Sky News, Channel 5 News, and Times Radio. He also appeared, again, on the Radio Five Live phone-in.

Back in October, in a message to supporters via the Taking Liberties blog, Clark wrote:

I’m not saying we will stop this absurd, illiberal policy - although it ought to concern anyone who believes in freedom of choice and personal responsibility - but with proper (and I mean proper) resources we’ll at least go down fighting. We love a challenge and this isn't over.

Following this week's events it still isn't over. Thank you for your support to date, and watch this space – the fight goes on!

And finally ...

Hats off to the politics website Guido Fawkes for keeping the issue in the news, especially some of the behind-the-scenes machinations that the mainstream media has chosen to ignore. For example:

Philip Davies lights up Sunak's smoking ban (May 22)
Opposition extinguished from smoking ban committee (April 25)
Government accused of stitch-up over smoking ban (March 1)
Commons security confiscates Sunak caricature (February 8)

If you have a moment, the reports above are worth reading. Some even include quotes from Forest.