A vaping ban in the UK?

Why is the government so desperate for me to smoke cigarettes?

There is a semi-conspiracy theory that governments want to keep people smoking because they make so much money out of it. In China and India, which have state-owned tobacco monopolies, this is certainly true. Politicians in a few European countries have occasionally admitted that they are clamping down on vapes to protect their tobacco revenues, but I tend to assume cock up rather than conspiracy when thinking about the UK. If the Treasury wanted to retain its tobacco duty revenues, it would cut rates to the revenue-maximising point, for a start, which it clearly hasn’t.

But I am starting to wonder. Everything it is doing with tobacco and nicotine policy seems aimed at getting people like me to start smoking again. As I say in The Critic today…

The most notorious — and risible — part of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is the generational ban on tobacco sales which will effectively raise the smoking age by a year every year. This will do nothing for people who have been smoking for decades and whose health is most at risk. But the Bill also gives unlimited “Henry VIII powers” to the Health Secretary to regulate e-cigarette flavours, packaging and advertising, as well as controlling where people can legally vape. The government has said that it plans to use these powers as soon as it gets them and since the Health Secretary is Wes “tonne of bricks” Streeting, it is unlikely to use them wisely.

This is where the Tobacco and Vapes Bill stops being merely stupid and illiberal and becomes counter-productive even on its own terms. There is strong evidence from other countries that bans on vape flavours, e-cigarette advertising and other anti-vaping policies lead to increased cigarette sales and higher smoking rates. Since cigarettes and e-cigarettes are direct substitutes for one another, this is hardly surprising. Vape taxes undoubtedly have the effect of boosting the smoking rate and yet a punitive tax on e-cigarettes will be introduced in October. All this is happening at a time when the black market in tobacco is exploding and the de facto price of a pack of cigarettes is five pounds.

I wrote that yesterday. Today, we got this…

Government is set to ban people from vaping in their own cars if children are present

Every media outlet has reported this in the same way, presumably reflecting the government’s press release. They lead with the ban on vaping in cars, briefly mention that “[a]ll existing indoor places where smoking is already banned will become ‘heated tobacco-free and vape-free’” and then spend the rest of the article quoting Wes Streeting on how dreadful smoking is. There is no attempt to justify banning vaping in every pub, club and workplace in the land. And then we get this bit…

People will also be able to continue smoking and vaping in their homes.

Wow, thanks. It speaks volumes about the state of liberty in this country that this reassurance is thought necessary.

The 2007 smoking ban was the subject of intense public discussion which lasted for years and culminated in a free vote in the House of Commons. This seems to have been tossed in almost as an afterthought. And yet there is no scientific, economic or ethical justification for banning vaping anywhere. If individual pubs want to ban it, that’s up to them. I try to avoid those pubs. But there is no reason to think that anyone is being harmed by secondhand vapour. It’s far from clear that anyone is being harmed from firsthand vapour.

You don’t need to take my word for it. This is what Our Precious NHS says:

Myth 8: Exposure to vape aerosol is harmful to people around you

Fact

There is no evidence so far that vaping is harmful to people around you.

While secondhand smoke from cigarettes causes serious harm to others, there is no evidence so far that vaping is harmful to people around you, and any risks are likely to be very low.

No doubt someone will conjure up a study to show that in an unrealistic, unventilated, small and confined space with vast quantities of an unusual vape juice, a potentially sub-optimal quantity of some chemical will be present, but you can do that with anything. If you’re going to ban vapes from pubs on that basis, you certainly have to ban alcohol, and probably coffee too.

The big pub chains have mostly banned vaping already, although this is often only enforced if someone is being a genuine nuisance. It will be worth watching what the PubCos submit to the public consultation on this. No doubt they will be calling for a ‘level playing field’ to nobble their competition. When the smoking ban came in, it was argued that there was a market failure because so few pubs had gone smoke-free voluntarily. Now, the argument seems to be that vaping should be banned in all pubs because most pubs already ban it. You can’t win with these people.

If you’re going to be forced outside with the smokers to get a nicotine hit, you might as well smoke. That is the bottom line. Nicotine hangs around in your blood stream longer from a cigarette than it does from a vape. Don’t ask me why, but it does. That is why smokers only need a cigarette every hour or so while vapers ‘graze’. So if your opportunities to use nicotine are limited, whether at work or in a bar, it makes more sense to smoke a cigarette. Or just stay at home and vape.

It is ironic that this proposal comes just a day after Angela Rayner was calling for a Minister for Nightlife to help the hospitality industry and two weeks after the Communities Minister, Steve Reed, vowed to take on “the fun police” for the same reason. The left hand never seems to know what the right hand is doing. When push comes to shove, the instinct to ban and regulate always prevails.

For years, it felt like the government was much more bothered about getting me to stop smoking that I was. Now it feels like they are intent on getting me to start again. If I were a younger man, I would just comply, but I’m already in Sniper’s Alley as it is.

I am genuinely puzzled why the government is picking a fight over this, especially when their main political threat is Reform. Do they even know themselves? The way it has been announced makes it seem like they’re almost embarrassed about it. Are they hoping to do it without anyone noticing (it will not require primary legislation once the Tobacco and Vapes Bill becomes law). There are more than five million vapers in the UK and I hope they/we put up one hell of a fight.