How did my MP vote on Smoking Bill? Full results as senior Tories turn on Rishi Sunak

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, former PM Liz Truss and ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman are among senior Tory MPs to vote against Rishi Sunak’s plan to ban children from smoking.

They were among 57 Tory MPs to vote against historic proposals to prevent anyone turning 15-years-old this year or younger from ever buying tobacco products. The Tobacco and Vaping Bill will also restrict colourful, disposable vapes that are getting youngsters hooked on nicotine and create new on-the-spot £100 fines for retailers who sell vapes to under-18s.

The Bill passed its second reading by 383 votes to 67, with a majority of 316. Just 178 Tory MPs voted in favour of the bill, while more than 100 Conservative MPs abstained. Science Minister Andrew Griffith, Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker and Housing Minister Lee Rowley, as well as Ms Badenoch, were among those in Government positions to vote against the Bill. Backbench Tories to reject the bill included Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and chair of the 1922 committee Sir Graham Brady.

Conservative MPs argued it was “unconservative” to ban things. Ms Badenoch said she had “significant concerns” about the plan, adding: “We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights.” She was later forced to downplay suggestions her opposition to Mr Sunak’s plan she was posturing for a future Tory leadership bid, telling LBC it was “a shame” people would view it that way.

Mr Jenrick said: “I believe in personal freedom. Let’s educate more and ban less.” It is despite two thirds (64%) of those who voted Conservatives in 2019 backing the plan, even more than the 59% of the wider public, according to fresh Savanta polling.

MPs from other parties to vote against the Bill include Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, Workers Party of Britain MP George Galloway, as well as seven MPs from the Democratic Unionist Party.

Rishi Sunak was accused of being ‘too weak’ to stand up to rebels in his own party

Former PM Ms Truss came out in fierce opposition to the plan in the Bill’s debate. Speaking in the Commons for the first time this year, she branded the Bill a “virtue-signalling piece of legislation” that was being pushed by the “health police” and referred to Labour members as “finger-wagging, nannying control freaks”. Former Tory Minister Sir Jake Berry claimed the Government is “addicted” to telling people what to do, claiming we “may as well live” in China or Russia if the Government controls people’s decisions.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting declared it time to consign smoking “to the dustbins of history” and said Labour will give “wholehearted support for the Bill”. He accused Rishi Sunak of being “too weak” to stand up to rebels in his own party.

Rebel Tory MPs voted against historic proposals to prevent anyone turning 15-years-old this year or younger from ever buying tobacco products

MPs were given a free vote, which means those who vote against the Government won’t be punished. Mr Sunak’s spokeswoman said: “This has always been a free vote and that’s because he respects that people’s attitudes to smoking is a matter of conscience and that’s why the approach that we’re taking with this legislation has been in line with previous interventions.”

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said she understood the concerns of fellow Tories, who claim it is “unconservative” to ban things, but hit back that “there is no liberty in addiction”. “Nicotine robs people of their freedom to choose,” she said. “The vast majority of smokers start when they are young, and three-quarters say that if they could turn back the clock they would not have started. I would argue it is our responsibility, indeed our duty, to protect the next generation and this is what this Bill will do.”

Full list of 57 Tory MPs who voted against the smoking ban:

Adam Afriyie (Windsor)

Sarah Atherton (Wrexham)

Richard Bacon (South Norfolk)

Kemi Badenoch (Saffron Walden)

Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich West)

Steve Baker (Wycombe)

Simon Baynes (Clwyd South)

Sir Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen)

Sir Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West)

Suella Braverman (Fareham)

Paul Bristow (Peterborough)

Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar)

Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham)

Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch)

Sir Simon Clarke (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)

Brendan Clarke-Smith (Bassetlaw)

Dehenna Davison (Bishop Auckland)

Sarah Dines (Derbyshire Dales)

Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon)

Dame Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock)

Sir James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend East) (Proxy vote cast by Mark Francois)

Mark Eastwood (Dewsbury)

George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth)

Nick Fletcher (Don Valley)

Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford)

Richard Fuller (North East Bedfordshire)

Chris Green (Bolton West)

Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs)

Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North)

Darren Henry (Broxtowe)

Adam Holloway (Gravesham)

Paul Holmes (Eastleigh)

Eddie Hughes (Walsall North)

Tom Hunt (Ipswich), Robert Jenrick (Newark)

Sir Greg Knight (East Yorkshire)

Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough)

Andrew Lewer (Northampton South)

Marco Longhi (Dudley North)

Julia Lopez (Hornchurch and Upminster)

Rachel Maclean (Redditch)

Anthony Mangnall (Totnes)

Karl McCartney (Lincoln)

Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot)

Tom Randall (Gedling)

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset)

Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury)

Lee Rowley (North East Derbyshire)

Gary Sambrook (Birmingham Northfield)

Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell)

Greg Smith (Buckingham)

Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley)

Jane Stevenson (Wolverhampton North East)

John Stevenson (Carlisle)

Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West)

Liz Truss (South West Norfolk)

Giles Watling (Clacton)