Conservative libertarians slammed as minister describes her regret at starting smoking aged 12 ahead of vote

Laura Farris

A Government minister on Tuesday described her regret at having started smoking aged 12 as she blasted Conservative libertarians who plan to vote against legislation aimed at creating a “smoke-free generation”.

Minister for Victims and Safeguarding Laura Farris, 45, said she was glad that her two young children would never be able to buy tobacco legally under the legislation, which comes before a free vote at its first hurdle in the Commons later on Tuesday.

Tory critics including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have slammed Rishi Sunak’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which would outlaw the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after January 1, 2009.

Ms Truss is among Conservative MPs who plan to take advantage of the free vote to register their opposition, and the scale of their vote will reveal resistance to Mr Sunak more widely amid calls from some on the Tory Right for another change of leader to rescue the party’s standing ahead of an election this year.

The Labour party backs the ban, however, ensuring it is likely to go through eventually. Ms Farris underlined that smoking is still responsible for one in four of all deaths and costs the NHS £17 billion a year.

She said that she was “ashamed” to admit that she started smoking at the age of 12 after she was introduced to cigarettes by a friend’s older sibling, and then struggled to quit throughout her 20s.

“It’s one of my biggest regrets actually,” the MP for Newbury in Berkshire told LBC.

“And I’ve got two young kids now and the fact that they will never be able to walk into a shop and buy a packet of cigarettes is something I welcome.”

Ms Farris added: “And by the way, I have never met a single smoker who’s glad they did it, wishes that their children do it, can identify a single health benefit or any other life benefit.

“It gets you hooked. It’s a horrible habit. And even when you’re doing it, you know that you’re causing yourself irreparable harm, and it’s incredibly difficult to get off.

“And actually, I think this is a very, very sensible policy and I’m not particularly interested in arguments about freedom on this one.”

But Conservative MP Sir Simon Clarke, an ally of Ms Truss and Mr Johnson, told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday that the legislation risked “making smoking cooler” and “creating a black market”.

Sir Simon said education and the tax system were better tools to discourage smoking, and brushed off opinion polls showing that two-thirds of Britons back a phased smoking ban – a figure that extends to 70% among those who voted Conservative in 2019.

Ms Truss, who is promoting a new book about her disastrous and short-lived time in 10 Downing Street, insisted that despite the polls, there was no popular support for the legislation.

She said the “unconservative” measure had long been pushed by “unelected individuals” at the Department of Health and Social Care and rebuffed by ministers before it was taken up by Mr Sunak, her successor in No10.

She told the BBC that “we should absolutely protect children from damage and danger while they are developing decision-making capabilities”, but added: “We’re a free country.

“We shouldn’t be telling people not to smoke and I worry about where it will lead, whether we’ll be getting a sugar allowance every week or a certain number of drinks we’re allowed to have.”

But Professor Sir Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said on Today that it would be an “enormous public health achievement” if smoking eventually dies out.

As well as raising the smoking age every year, the Bill would also regulate the display, contents, flavours and packaging of vapes to discourage their appeal to children.

Sir Chris said: “It is utterly unacceptable to market it [vaping] to children. Yet that is what has happened.”

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