Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to gradually ban the sale of cigarettes

“We need to try to stop teenagers from starting to smoke.” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday October 4 his intention to extend the ban on the sale of cigarettes so that the United Kingdom gradually becomes a tobacco-free country. “I propose that in the future we increase the age [légal] to smoke for a year every year”declared the head of the conservative government during a speech at his party congress in Manchester.

Currently, the legal age to buy cigarettes in the UK is 18. But “four out of five smokers started before they were twenty”justified Rishi Sunak. “We need to try to stop teenagers from starting to smoke.” “This could make it possible to almost completely eliminate smoking among young people by 2040”according to the tenant of 10 Downing Street.

“Smoking will not be criminalized and our progressive approach means that anyone who can legally buy cigarettes today will not be prevented from doing so in the future”, specifies Downing Street. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the UK. If these measures are adopted, the UK will follow the example of New Zealand, which is implementing a near-total tobacco ban by preventing anyone born after 2008 from buying cigarettes.