Britain should ban smoking and slap taxes on fruit juice, former Chancellor George Osborne has said.
The Tory austerity architect said “anti-nanny state Conservatives” are “not worth listening to” as he demanded major interventions to curb obesity and cancer rates.
Mr Osborne said the UK should follow New Zealand by raising the age of smoking over time so young people can never light up legally.
The country introduced a new law in December that will steadily increase the smoking age so anyone born after 2009 will never be able to legally buy tobacco.
An independent review by Dr Javed Khan recommended the move last year - but Tory ministers rejected the idea, saying it was "too big a departure" from Government policy.
Mr Osborne told The Times: “You basically phase it out. Of course you’re going to have lots of problems with illegal smoking, but you have lots of problems with other illegal activities.
"It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and ban them and police them and make it less readily available. I thought that was a compelling public health intervention."
The UK has the third highest obesity rate in Europe, with almost one in three adults classified as obese, according to the Institute for Government.
The ex-Chancellor, who introduced the soft drink levy in 2018, said it should be expanded to juices and smoothies along with biscuits and cakes.
Including fruit juices in the ban was too controversial at the time as many people think a glass of orange juice is healthy, he said.
He said: "They’ve all been opposed at the time by vociferous lobbies. It’s taken quite a lot of political courage by the different administrations to get them done.
"But no one now would reintroduce smoking in pubs and no one now would say you shouldn’t wear a seatbelt."
He took aim at subsequent Tory PMs Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak for delaying a ban on junk food advertising on pre-watershed TV.
“I was very disappointed that subsequent Conservative governments have rolled back or cancelled or delayed the various efforts to restrict the advertising of junk food," he said.
“Since the dawn of states, [the government] has regulated certain products and medicines, and made certain things illegal. I don’t see why you can’t do that in a space such as food. Food’s been heavily regulated since the 19th century.”
He dismissed arguments that it is unfair to impose taxes during a cost of living crisis and said the food industry was capable of taking the hit.
Today, Downing Street said there were "no plans" to adopt the measures called for by his former boss.
Last month, Health Minister Neil O'Brien rejected calls to raise the smoking age.
He told a PolicyExchange event: "We think that's too big a departure from the policy we've been involved in for many decades which is of helping people to quit rather than banning adults from buying cigarettes.
"So that's not something we're going to pursue - instead we want to major on measures to help people quit smoking rather than do that."
Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group Forest, said: "Like many politicians, past and present, George Osborne wants to control how millions of people live their lives.
"Banning younger generations of adults from smoking would infantilise millions of people, denying them the opportunity to make their own choices and take responsibility for their health.
"It would also fuel a huge black market in tobacco, losing the government billions of pounds in tax revenue every year, as well as costing a small fortune to try and enforce."
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