A UK-wide tobacco and vapes bill has been agreed to be taken forward by all governments in Britain.
The bill includes new powers to regulate the packaging, displays, contents, and flavours of vapes and nicotine products, allowing restrictions to target flavours marketed at children and to move vapes out of sight of children and way from products like sweets.
The age of sale for tobacco products will also be gradually increased, making it an offence to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
The Scottish Government public health minister, Jenni Minto, said, “Scotland has been a world-leader on a range of tobacco control measures, and while there has been a steady reduction in the proportion of people smoking we know it still damages lives and kills more than 8,000 people a year in Scotland. Smoking is a huge burden on our NHS and social care services and contributes significantly to health inequalities, which is why our goal is for a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034.
“Research suggests that almost one in five young people have tried vaping and we’re particularly concerned about how flavours are used as an enticement to children and young people.
“We will now consider how to use these powers, if passed by Westminster, with the consent of the Scottish Parliament, to benefit public health. We will continue our four-nations approach to avoid any unnecessary regulatory divergence and to offer more certainty and for business and consistency for consumers. Powers on vapes will be taken forward following further consultation and engagement.
“In addition, we were the first government to commit to taking action on single-use vapes and have now fulfilled our 2023 Programme for Government commitment to consult on measures to tackle the environmental impact of single-use vapes.”
