Health Secretary Victoria Atkins on Monday said the Government's ban on disposable vapes would help children avoid the "horrendous pull" of a nicotine habit as figures revealed that more than 100,000 London children have vaped.
It came as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was preparing to announce a complete ban on disposable vapes to tackle a sharp rise in the number of people using e-cigarettes.
The latest data from the NHS Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use survey estimates that 15 per cent of children aged between 11 and 15 in the capital had tried vaping in 2021, the equivalent of more than 101,000 children. More than 13,500 teenagers regularly use vapes, with girls three times more likely to take up the habit.
Separate figures released by the Government show that the number of children vaping in the last three years has tripled.
Ministers will introduce new powers to restrict flavours which are specifically marketed at children and change how vapes are displayed in shops, moving them out of the sight of children. Any shop found to be illegally selling vapes to children will face an £100 fine. Vaping alternatives – such as nicotine pouches – will also be banned for children.
The ban is expected to come into force at the end of 2024 or the start of 2025.
But the plans risked sparking a backlash on the Tory right as former Prime Minister Liz Truss warned that the party "should not be seeking to extend the nanny state".
“While the state has a duty to protect children from harm, in a free society, adults must be able to make their own choices about their own lives," she said in a statement.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Atkins said that ministers “want to help children avoid the horrendous pull of a nicotine habit which for which vapes can very often be the gateway”.
Asked about opposition to the move from Conservative MPs, she said: “I'm old enough to remember a time when you could walk into a pub and it was filled with smoke and everybody at the time when that was being debated said ‘oh this will never work’.
“Nowadays of course you would be astonished if somebody tried to spark up a cigarette in a pub or a public facility.”
Health experts welcomed the move, saying it would help to ease pressure on the NHS in the long term.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: "Smoking has caused more deaths than obesity, alcohol, road traffic accidents, illegal drugs and HIV combined and each year kills more people than Covid did at the height of the pandemic. Ending this scourge on society is long overdue.”
