Health chiefs welcome Labour’s plan to phase out smoking as ‘radical change’ | King’s Speech

Government plans to introduce the world’s first total smoking ban, stop the sale of energy drinks to children and modernise mental health laws are “groundbreaking” and will save thousands of lives, health officials have said.

Labour will also impose restrictions on the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to children and launch a crackdown on junk food advertising in a bid to improve the health of future generations.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents the entire health system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said: “The King’s Speech contains game-changing commitments that will improve the health of the nation, headlined by reforms to the Mental Health Act and legislation to create a smoke-free generation.

“Our members will also support the focus on children and young people, with measures to tackle the impact of junk food and high-caffeine energy drinks being a good starting point.”

The Tobacco and E-Cigarette Bill will gradually increase the age at which people can buy tobacco so that future generations will never be able to do so legally.

It bans anyone born after 1 January 2009 from smoking legally, making the UK the first country in the world to ban smoking.

Rishi Sunak had promised to push through the bill when he was prime minister but abandoned it during the “clean-up” process, when outgoing governments choose which policies to accelerate and which to scrap, after lobbying by the world’s biggest tobacco companies, first revealed by the Guardian.

The bill also paves the way for changes in the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to reduce their appeal to children. Flavors such as bubble gum and cotton candy could also be restricted, as research shows young people prefer them to flavors such as menthol.

Restrictions on the packaging and presentation of products such as tobacco pouches that may encourage children to smoke are also planned. Trading Standards officials will have more powers to sanction retailers who sell e-cigarettes and tobacco to under-18s.

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, who urged MPs to ignore lobbying by tobacco companies and pass the bill, said the move to create a smoke-free country would be “a huge step forward for public health”.

Cancer Research UK’s executive director of policy, Dr Ian Walker, predicted the ban would “have a hugely positive impact on the health of the nation”.

Association of Directors of Public Health chairman Greg Fell said: “Phasing out tobacco will save thousands of lives, help protect the next generation from addiction to this deadly product and do more to reduce the unacceptable gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions than any other single measure.”

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health President Professor Steve Turner described the move as “a major step” towards the UK creating “the healthiest generation of children in our history”.

People detained under the Mental Health Act will be given greater choice and rights under new legislation unveiled in the King’s Speech.

The Mental Health Bill aims to give patients more power and put them at the centre of decisions about their care. It amends the 1983 law, which Labour has called “woefully outdated”, to bring it “into the 21st century”.

Mental health charity Mind’s chief executive, Dr Sarah Hughes, hailed the changes as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”.

However, Sane charity chief executive Marjorie Wallace warned that the reform would need to be accompanied by increased funding for staff, hospital beds and community services.

“As long as mental health services are so poor and access to treatment and therapy is limited, the vision of improved individual rights and choices cannot be realised,” Wallace said.