Rishi Sunak on Wednesday proposed pushing back the smoking ban for another year each year, to create a tobacco-free generation. But some elected officials from his own party have already made it known that they would vote against this project.
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“Become a tobacco-free country”. Rishi Sunak describes this dream to members of his party during a highly anticipated speech on Wednesday October 4 in Manchester to close the Conservative Party’s annual conference. The leader of the British government is committed to tackling smoking among young people, by pushing back the smoking ban for another year each year. Today, in the United Kingdom, the sale of cigarettes is prohibited to under-18s.
The Prime Minister wants to create a tobacco-free generation when 80% of smokers started this harmful activity before the age of 20. “Unlike all other legal products, there is no healthy practice, says Rishi Sunak. None of us, even those who smoke, want to see our children become smokers. And this change will save more lives than any other decision we could make.”
Unfavorable polls one year before the elections
“Almost completely eliminate smoking among young people by 2040”, specifies the Prime Minister’s team to support this measure, which is not one. Rishi Sunak expresses a personal conviction here, and he presented it as such. If this measure reaches Parliament to be debated and voted on, the Conservative Party will not give instructions to its elected officials. Some are already saying they would vote against such a project, like former Prime Minister Liz Truss. She says she is fed up with the bans.
The leader of the British government wanted to be long-term as very complicated general elections loom for him next year. Rishi Sunak wants to project himself into 2040, when polls and internal dissensions announce his departure from Downing Street next year.