THE legal age for buying tobacco should rise every year, the Prime Minister has said as he announced new proposals to crack down on smoking.
Rishi Sunak said more must be done to “try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place”.
He told the Conservative party conference in Manchester that “a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette,” under planned legislation.
“If we are to do the right thing for our kids, we must try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place,” he said.
“Because without a significant change thousands of children will start smoking in the coming years and have their lives cut short as a result.”
He added: “I propose that in future we raise the smoking age by one year every year.
“That means a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and that they and their generation can grow up smoke free.”
Tory MPs will be given a free vote on the proposals, the Prime Minister added.
The Prime Minister also included a pop at former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, saying: “Today our Union is the strongest it has been in a quarter of a century.
“The forces of separatism are in retreat across out country. Nicola Sturgeon wanted to go down in the history books as the woman who broke up our country, but it now looks like she may go down for very different reasons.”
Elsewhere in his keynote conference speech – in which Sunak announced the northern leg of HS2 would be scrapped – the Prime Minister also announced he wanted to reform the English education system.
A new singled combined qualification called the Advanced British Standard would see A-levels and T-levels rolled into one, he said, and will see all pupils study maths and English until 18.
'Rip off degrees'
And he said the Government would stop pupils from studying degrees “that do nothing for their life chances”.
Sunak said: “Labour pursued the false dream of 50% of children going to university and abandoned apprenticeships.
“This assumption that the only route to success was the university route was one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years. It led to thousands of young people being ripped off by degrees that did nothing to increase their employability or earnings potential.
“So we are stopping universities from enrolling students on courses that do nothing for their life chances. Under us no more rip-off degrees.”
The conference was also told of plans to give teachers and further education lecturers £30,000 in tax-free bonuses.
“In order to attract and retain more teachers, those who teach key subjects in schools and – for the first time – in our further education colleges too, will receive special bonuses of up to £30,000 tax free over the first five years of their career,” he said.
“Our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs in our society and we should reward them for that.”
