Wales’ Trading Standards Body Attacks ‘Unrealistic & Two-Tier’ Tobacco Ban – Guido Fawkes

Wales’ Trading Standards Body Attacks ‘Unrealistic & Two-Tier’ Tobacco Ban

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Guido has long tracked the practical difficulties of implementing the rolling smoking ban along with it being obviously immoral. The government appears to have its head firmly in the sand over the legal implications in Northern Ireland…

Closer to Westminster the Welsh Trading Standards authority has sounded alarm bells over the ban. A report has been quietly uploaded to the Senedd’s website produced by Trading Standards Wales, which represents the twenty local authority Trading Standards Services across Wales and is in general fully supportive of tobacco control. It says the generational ban would “create a two-tier age system… young people could still obtain cigarettes from older friends or family members’ and adds: “We do not think it is realistic to believe that in the future, 30, 40, or 50 year old adults who are purchasing tobacco products would be challenged about their age and asked to prove they were born before January 2009.” 55-year-olds buying smokes for 50-year-olds…

The body – the first to break ranks publicly – also says the £10 million pledged for enforcement is nowhere near enough and that legislating bodies need “to examine closely the reasons why this health measure was unsuccessful in New Zealand and repealed in February 2024 despite receiving support from academics, clinicians, local communities and the general public.” Such is the case with unenforceable legislation – the UK illegal tobacco market is already surging in anticipation…