Rishi Sunak Hits Back At Liz Truss’ Criticism Of His ‘Nanny State’ Vape Ban

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hit back at criticism from the party’s right wing Monday as he pushes forward with a ban on youth smoking and disposable vapes.

Dubbed a “nanny state” move by critics, the initiative sparked an internal Tory revolt, spearheaded by former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Truss blasted the idea of banning vapes and cigarettes to anyone born after 1 January 2009 as “profoundly unconservative.”

“A Conservative government should not be seeking to extend the nanny state,” she said. “This will only give succour to those who wish to ban further choices of which they don’t approve.”

Sunak told Sky News: “I don’t think there’s anything unconservative about caring about our children’s health.”

He continued: “If we raise the smoking age incrementally, that will mean people will stop smoking. The vast majority of people take up smoking when they are young. If we can stop that start, we will be well on the way to making sure we have the first smoke-free generation in our country.”

His legislative plan will look to phase out legal smoking among young people and ban all disposable vapes in Britain beginning in 2024. The law would includes new powers to restrict vape flavours and ensure plainer packaging to make them less appealing to children.

Statistics show that the rising popularity of disposable vapes among the youth has undergone significant increase, from 7.7% in 2021 to 69% in 2023 among vapers aged 11 to 17.

Announcement of Sunak’s push to pass the legislation saw vaping firm shares tumble Monday.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “I support the banning of disposable vapes, not least because of the impact they have on children. We’ve been calling for this for two years. So I do have a question for the government, which is why has it taken two years to get to this stage? We’ve wasted two years.”