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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nadeem Badshah (now); and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)

MPs vote to give smoking ban bill second reading – as it happened

​​Rishi Sunak Tory Smoking Liz Truss Chris Whitty David Cameron Tobacco Christian Bruna Post Office

A summary of today's developments

  • Rishi Sunak’s proposal to ban young people from ever being able to legally smoke tobacco has cleared its first Commons hurdle, despite a swathe of Conservative MPs voting against it. MPs voted 383 to 67, majority 316, to give the Tobacco and Vapes Bill a second reading.

  • The division list showed 57 Conservative MPs were among those who voted against giving the Bill a second reading. Among them were former home secretary Suella Braverman, business secretary Kemi Badenoch, former Home Office minister Robert Jenrick, former prime minister Liz Truss, and former housing secretary Sir Simon Clarke. Several serving ministers were also among those voting against, including Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart, Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, culture minister Julia Lopez, and communities minister Lee Rowley.

  • Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation plan has been given a fresh beating by peers, amid a continuing stand-off over the controversial policy. Despite MPs overturning previous changes by the House of Lords, the unelected chamber again pressed demands for revisions to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. The latest government setbacks mean a continuation of wrangling at Westminster over the proposed law that aims to clear the way to send asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats on a one-way flight to Kigali. However, the margin of the defeats was narrowed as the Tory administration drafted in rarely seen peers to bolster numbers.

  • Rishi Sunak warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu against “further significant escalation” in Tel Aviv’s response to Iran’s attack. He tweeted: “Earlier today I spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu and reiterated our support for Israel’s security following Iran’s reckless attack at the weekend. “Further significant escalation will only deepen instability in the region. “This is a moment for calm heads to prevail.”

  • David Cameron has defended the United Nations after Liz Truss said she cannot see the purpose for it. In an interview with the BBC promoting her new book, Truss said: “I can’t see a purpose for the UN as it stands. At present it has been very ineffective at dealing with international situations, in fact positively damaging, for example, on Israel.” Cameron, the foreign secretary and who as PM was responsible for giving Truss her first cabinet job, was asked if he agreed. He replied: “I take the view that the United Nations has many problems and issues and the frustrations of dealing with the Security Council at the moment, when you’ve got a Russian veto and a Chinese veto, these frustrations are very great.”

  • Downing Street described the decision by Belgian police to shut down the National Conservatism conference as “extremely disturbing”.

Updated

The public health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom told Sky News: “The vast majority of Conservative colleagues are supporting it or abstaining on it, seeing how the bill progresses.”

She added that the bill was “absolutely not finger-wagging control freakery”, saying: “Once you’re addicted to nicotine, your freedom of choice is completely gone.”

“A freedom-loving, choice-loving individual would choose to allow children to be free from the addiction to nicotine.”

The Rwanda deportation bill has been delayed for at least one more day after the House of Lords voted for amendments that would ensure that it adheres to international and key domestic laws.

The plan to spend £541m to send 300 people seeking asylum to east Africa was sent back to the House of Commons after peers voted several times to add protections for claimants to the bill.

Home Office sources believe they will still force through the bill by the end of this week. It is expected to be presented to the lower chamber again on Wednesday morning and could be returned to the upper chamber a few hours later.

Labour is not expected to whip peers to vote the bill down. Officials maintain that flights for Kigali will not take off for several weeks.

A Labour government would implement the smoking ban, Wes Streeting said after the policy cleared its first Commons hurdle.

Labour’s shadow health secretary said: “Rishi Sunak put this bill at risk by granting a free vote, because he is too weak to stand up to the Liz Truss-wing of his party.

“Labour first proposed a progressive ban on smoking more than a year ago, and it was only thanks to Labour MPs that this bill passed.

“If we are privileged enough to form the next government, Labour will implement this ban, so young people today are even less likely to smoke than they are to vote Conservative.”

Kemi Badenoch downplayed suggestions her opposition to Rishi Sunak’s proposed smoking ban on Tuesday demonstrated she was posturing for a future Tory leadership bid.

In a phone-in with LBC Radio, the business secretary said it was “a shame” people would view it that way.

“We need space for people to be able to have disagreements without it being put down to ulterior motives. Everything we do is looked at through the prism of the worst possible intention. And I think that’s one of the reasons why politicians feel they don’t get a fair hearing, that many people decide not to not to do this job.

“Sometimes we have to take what people are saying at face at face value.”

According to the UK Parliament website’s division list, 57 Tory MPs voted No to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

Among them were former home secretary Suella Braverman, the business secretary Kemi Badenoch, former Home Office minister Robert Jenrick, former prime minister Liz Truss and former housing secretary Sir Simon Clarke.

Several serving ministers were also among those voting against including Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart, Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, culture minister Julia Lopez, and communities minister Lee Rowley.

Tory MPs voting against the Bill were joined by 7 DUP MPs, Reform Party MP Lee Anderson, and Workers Party of Britain MP George Galloway.

Some 178 Conservatives supported the Bill according to the list, alongside 160 Labour MPs, 31 SNP MPs, 5 Liberal Democrats, 3 Plaid Cymru MPs, 2 independents, and the Alliance Party’s Stephen Farry.

Some 106 Tory MPs did not vote as well as 40 Labour MPs.

Rishi Sunak has warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu against “further significant escalation” in Tel Aviv’s response to Iran’s attack.

He wrote on X: “Earlier today I spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu and reiterated our support for Israel’s security following Iran’s reckless attack at the weekend.

“Further significant escalation will only deepen instability in the region.

“This is a moment for calm heads to prevail.”

Following the Commons vote, Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), said: “Parliament has today begun the process of consigning smoking to the ‘ash heap’ of history.

“However, this is only the first step, the Bill must now go through committee and another vote before going through the same process in the House of Lords.

“The passage of the Bill should be expedited to ensure it is on the statute book before the general election.

“The public, who overwhelmingly support the legislation, expect nothing less.”

ITV’s Robert Peston’s reflections on the vote result.

Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban bill has passed its first hurdle in the Commons and can now go for a second reading.

However, it appears numerous Tory MPs opposed the legislation and many also abstained.

Updated

MPs have voted to support the Tobacco and Vapes Bill

The ayes voted 383, the noes 67, giving a majority of 316.

MPs have divided to vote on the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

Dame Andrea Leadsom, the health and social care minister, has disclosed she began smoking aged 14 behind the bicycle sheds.

After smoking up to 40 a day, she said she quit by her 21st birthday.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has become the latest high-profile Conservative to signal his intention to vote against the government’s proposed smoking ban.

He wrote on X: “I believe in personal freedom. Let’s educate more and ban less.

“I also believe in the principle of equality under the law. A phased ban of smoking would be an affront to that. I will therefore vote against the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

“I respect those who disagree. The proponents have good intentions.

“I’ve seen the harmful effects of smoking in my own family, so I understand their perspective.

“But the best way to reduce smoking is to continue to educate, not a ban that will prove a nightmare to enforce.”

Dame Andrea Leadsom, the health and social care minister, said the government is spending £138 million on stop smoking services which is double than before.

She also accused Wes Streeting of playing politics and not having anything sensible to say about the Bill.

The Bill would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born after January 1 2009, which covers children who are currently 15 or younger, but does not criminalise current smokers.

Preet Gill, the shadow health and social care minister, says she supports the tobacco and vapes bill.

But highlights that over the past 14 years, healthl life expectancy has dropped for the first time in modern British history.

In an additional blow to the Conservative frontbench, peers voted by 275 to 218, majority 57, to press a demand for those who worked with the UK military or government overseas, such as Afghan interpreters, to be exempted from removal to Rwanda.

Over to the House of Lords and the Rwanda vote.

In a third government defeat, the Lords again insisted by 253 votes to 236, majority 17, on an amendment to restore the jurisdiction of domestic courts in relation to the safety of Rwanda and enable them to intervene.

Tory minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has also come out against the government’s proposed smoking ban.

The foreign office minister wrote on X: “I have pondered long and hard about how to vote and have decided that in its present form I cannot support it.

“This is just stage one of the legislation and I hope that at the next stage we can make amendments which will make it law which will be more likely to actually deter young smokers without removing freedom of choice for adults.

“My granny smoked all her life, the rest of us have always been opposed to it as a result. But her ability to decide for herself is one which I would not want to remove.

“So what might work? That we raise the age of being allowed to smoke to 21, since most young people start before they are 20.

“Logically this will therefore see far far fewer people take up the bad habit in the first place.”

Government suffers two more defeats in Lords on Rwanda bill, losing by majorities of 39 and 17

The government lost the second vote in the House of Lords on the Rwanda bill by 266 votes to 227 – a majority of 39. Peers backed the motion saying only be considered a safe country if an independent monitoring committee confirms that. (See 5.51pm.)

And peers have just finished voting on motion C1, that would allow courts to continue to decide Rwanda is not safe in individual cases. The government lost a third time, by 253 votes to 236 – a majority of 17.

Kemi Badenoch becomes first cabinet minister to say they will vote against smoking ban bill

Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary and minister for women and equalities, has said she will vote against the smoking bill tonight. She is the first cabinet minister to confirm they are voting against Rishi Sunak on that. He has granted MPs a free vote, but he would still prefer his cabinet minister to support him.

Badenoch has explained her thinking in posts on X. Interestingly, while it was assumed that many Tories would oppose the bill on liberty grounds, Badenoch is opposing it primarily on equality grounds (like some other Tories speaking in the debate – see 4.38pm and 5.31pm.)

I’m not a smoker and think it is an unpleasant habit, costly for both the individual and society.
The PM’s intentions with this Bill are honest and mark him out as a leader who doesn’t duck the thorny issues.
I agree with his policy intentions BUT….(1/4)

I have significant concerns and appreciate the PM making this a free vote. It gives me the opportunity to express my personal view, outside collective responsibility.

The principle of equality under the law is a fundamental one. It underpins many of my personal beliefs..(2/4)

We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights.

Among other reasons it will create difficulties with enforcement. This burden will fall not on the state but on private businesses… (3/4)

Smoking rates are already declining significantly in the UK and I think there is more we can do to stop children taking up the habit.

However, I do not support the approach this bill is taking and so will be voting against it. (4/4)

That is all from me for tonight. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is taking over now.

In the House of Lords peers are now voting for the second time on the Rwanda bill. They are voting on motion B1, tabled by Lord Hope of Craighead, a former deputy chair of the supreme court. This says Rwanda would only be considered a safe country if an independent monitoring committee confirms that.

In the smoking debate the Conservative MP Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) compared supporters of the government’s bill to Roundheads. He explained:

There were so many Roundheads fighting the king many years ago in the civil war, but I would say there’s too many Roundheads at the moment in this parliament. Too many naysayers, too many people banning things.

What we need is a few more Cavaliers, a few people trying to enjoy bits of life and making those informed choices.

For that reason, I oppose this bill – although it has got some good bits about vaping – what we should be doing is fighting the next battle against vapes … rather than wasting our time fighting yesterday’s battles.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, announced today that all MPs will now be able to correct Hansard (the written record of parliament) if they make an error when they are speaking in the chamber. Previously only ministers could do that.

Chris Morris, chief executive of Full Fact, a factchecking organisation, has been campaigning for this, and he said:

The improvements to the Parliamentary correction system present a new opportunity for members of parliament to rebuild the public’s trust in politics. Full Fact is calling on all MPs to use the new system whenever they find out they’ve made a false or misleading factual claim.

Savanta has published some new polling confirming that there is widespread public support for a phased smoking ban.

Gareth Johnson (Con) is up now in the Commons, and he says the government is adopting a “completely wrong approach” to getting people to stop smoking. He says adults should have equal rights under the law. But this bill would prevent that, he says, because some adults would be allowed to buy cigarettes and some wouldn’t.

And he says no other country in the world has implemented it. Countries like New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia have considered this, but they have not gone ahead with it. He suggests it is unlikely that all other countries are wrong, and the UK government is right.

In the Commons Chloe Smith (Con) is addressing the point raised by readers. (See 5.19pm.) She says she was surprised the impact assessment for the bill said nothing about the burden it would impose on smokers who would need to carry ID all the time to prove their right to purchase cigarettes. She says the government should address this.

She says she was the minister in charge of bringing in the voter ID law for elections, and she says she did consider the practical implications of that legislation.

Here are two related questions from readers.

Has any politician (Labour or Tory) ever actually addressed John Hayes’ point about how somebody who in their 30s will in fact be able to buy tobacco (eg, will a passport/ID have to be shown, progressively as the years pass)?

This has not been discussed much, but my understanding is that that is exactly how it would operate. As Hayes might have put it, a 34-year-old wanting cigarettes would have to find a 35-year-old with ID to get them instead.

Do MPs who are questioning how shops would police age related ID also support photographic ID (which all carries dates of birth too) to vote?

If you are referring to Conservatives like Hayes, almost certainly yes. There were hardly any Tories who expressed concerns about the photo ID voting rules.

Back in the Commons Brendan Clarke-Smith (Con), who told MPs that he was opposed to the gradual smoking ban (he quoted Margaret Thatcher’s maxim, “When people are free to choose, they choose freedom”) is being followed by Sir Simon Clarke, another Tory opponent of the bill.

Normally a government MP is followed by an opposition MP in a debate, and the fact that Clarke has been called implies there are no more opposition backbenchers who want to speak. The opposition benches are more or less empty.

UPDATE: Clarke-Smith said:

The point here being the direction of travel has been about giving adults, whatever their background, to live their lives within the law as they wish, so long as they are not impinging on the rights of others.

This is the right direction and the right thing to do. As Margaret Thatcher once said, when people are free to choose, the choose freedom.

But what next? A ban on alcohol? A ban on takeaways? I would declare an interest in both of those. Both of these are bad for us when they are not done responsibly. But we are adults these are our choices, these are not the state’s choice.

We need to get back to trusting adults to make their own decisions in life. I don’t like banning things as a rule, and yes there are always cases you can make, I don’t believe the case has been made here yet.

Updated

David Cameron defends United Nations after Truss says she can't see purpose for it

In an interview with the BBC promoting her new book, Liz Truss said she could not see the point of the United Nations. She declared:

I can’t see a purpose for the UN as it stands. At present it has been very ineffective at dealing with international situations, in fact positively damaging, for example, on Israel.

Asked if she wanted to abolish it, she replied:

I do recommend abolishing quite a lot of things in my book. I’m not a UN fan. I think the best use it has is actually a meeting point for governments.

But certainly the UN security council as it’s currently constituted, with both China and Russia on, is not keeping the world safe … I much more support alliances of like-minded countries like Nato.

Taking questions in the Lords, David Cameron, who is now foreign secretary and who as PM was responsible for giving Truss her first cabinet job, was asked if he agreed. He replied:

I take the view that the United Nations has many problems and issues and the frustrations of dealing with the Security Council at the moment, when you’ve got a Russian veto and a Chinese veto, these frustrations are very great.

But, nonetheless, it’s important we have an international body where issues can be discussed, where countries can come together.

Good work is done through the United Nations, in spite of the frustrations, so I can see a point of the United Nations.

When the Labour peer Lord Grocott asked if Cameron had a message for “those of us who can’t see a purpose of Liz Truss”, the foreign secretary declined to answer.

Government suffers defeat on Rwanda bill as peers vote to make clear legislation must comply with international law

The government has lost its first vote in the Rwanda bill debate in the Lords. Peers voted by 258 votes to 233 – a majority of 25 – in favour of Labour’s motion saying the bill should be enacted in a way consistent with international law. (See 4.40pm.)

In normal circumstances a majority of 25 is quite decent in the Lords. But the opposition had a majority of 102 when peers voted on this in early March and, in the first round of “ping pong” on 20 March, the majority was 43.

No 10 says decision by Belgian policy to shut down National Conservatism conference 'extremely disturbing'

Downing Street has described the decision by Belgian police to shut down the National Conservatism conference as “extremely disturbing”. At the afternoon lobby briefing a No 10 spokesperson went on:

The prime minister is a strong supporter and advocator for free speech and he believes that should be fundamental to any democracy.

Speaking more broadly to the principle of such events, he is very clear that cancelling events or preventing attendance and no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and to democracy as a result.

He is very clear that free debate and the exchange of views is vital, even where you disagree.

The spokesperson added she was not aware of any plans to raise the issue with the Belgian government.

In the House of Lords the first vote on the Rwanda bill is taking place. It is on motion A1 – a Labour motion saying the bill must be enacted in a way consistent with international law.

The government argues that there is on need for this to be stated explicitly in these terms.

Back in the Commons Adam Afriyie (Con) says bans to not work. He says the number of children who smoke has been falling dramatically, and he says that shows why existing policies are working.

He says he does not object to the rest of the bill. But because of the generational smoking ban, he cannot support the bill.

It treats adults differently, depending on their age. That is not equality under the law, he says.

Sunak has still not had call with Netanyahu he told MPs was due 'shortly', No 10 says

Rishi Sunak has still not spoken with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu around 24 hours after saying he would do so “shortly”, No 10 said this afternoon.

As PA Media reports, at the afternoon lobby briefing a Number 10 spokesperson said: “We are still discussing scheduling, working out with diaries.”

She rejected the suggestion that the delay was “embarrassing” and made Britain “look weak on the world stage”. She said:

I don’t think so. I think we saw the UK participate in a coalition over the weekend.

The prime minister has regularly spoken with Netanyahu. It does take time to schedule these with diaries but there was a suggestion earlier this morning that that meant that the UK’s view was not being relayed or we hadn’t had an opportunity to do that.

That is obviously incorrect. Our position is very clear, it’s the same as the US and we obviously have contact with the Israeli government through many different channels.

Back in the Commons, Craig Whittaker (Con) says that the smoking bill will not do what it wants to do and that it is following the “failed model” used in New Zealand. If the government is serious about stopping people smoking, it should just set a date in the future when smoking will be banned, he says.

Pakistan using Rwanda bill to justify deportation of migrants back to Afghanistan, peers told

In the Lords Vernon Coaker, a Labour Home Office spokesperson, is speaking. The first motion being debated is one that says the bill should include an opposition provision saying it must be enacted in a way compatible with domestic and international law.

Coaker says, in countries like Ukraine, the UK insists on international law being upheld. But if the government passes a law saying it is allowed to ignore international law, its integrity will be undermined, he says.

As an example of the harm this can do, he says the prime minister of Pakistan cited the Rwanda bill as a reason why he was entitled to send migrants back to Afghanistan.

And he says the Rwandan state airline will not fly asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda because it is concerned about the potential damage to its reputation.

In the Commons the Conservative Mark Eastwood told MPs he would reluctantly be voting against the smoking bill. In his speech he focused on vaping, and said he was concerned that the restrictions on vaping in the bill went too far. He explained his case in an article for ConservativeHome published earlier.

We must learn the lessons of vaping legislation in New Zealand and Australia and ensure that vaping policy, law and regulation in the UK is developed in a way which ultimately achieves the shared objective to reduce youth vaping, whilst not weakening the benefits of vaping in helping adults quit.

For example, the potential adoption of stricter options on flavours (potentially to just four flavours), risks undermining the government’s smokefree ambitions and ignores the evidence.

Peers launch fresh bid to insert safeguards into Rwanda bill in latest 'ping pong' debate

In the House of Lords peers have just started the latest round of “ping pong” with the Commons over the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill.

When the bill first went through the Lords, peers inserted 10 amendments that were subsequently removed by MPs. When it went back to the Lords, peers voted, in effect, to put seven of them back in. They were removed by the Commons yesterday.

Today peers are going to have another go at getting MP to “think again” (as they tend to describe their role). Here is the list of new amendments up for debate.

We are expecting up to seven votes, ending early evening. The amendments cover various issues and include a restriction saying the bill cannot not come into force until an independent monitoring committee has said Rwanda is a safe country, and another saying people who have worked for the British army in countries like Afghanistan should be exempt from deportation to Rwanda.

Sir Jake Berry, the former Conservative chair, is speaking now. He says “anyone with a brain” would support the proposals in the bill to ban disposable vapes. But he wants to focus on the smoking provisions, he says.

As an ex-smoker, he does not want children to smoke, he says.

But he questions whether this would work. If bans work, children would not try cannabis. But they do. And he says he went to Aintree recently. People were openly snorting cocaine, even though that is illegal too, he says.

UPDATE: Berry said:

If you believe in freedom, you have to accept that people have to be free to make bad decisions, as well as good decisions. ‘Cause if we live in a society where the only decisions we are free to make are ones that the government tells us we’re free to make, you may as well live in a socialist society, you may as well live in Russia, you may as well live in China …

There is one addiction in this country that I am even more concerned about than people who are addicted to nicotine, it is the addiction of the government to telling people what to do. I want to live in a free society, where I am free to make both good and bad decisions.

Updated

Back in the Commons Sajid Javid, the Tory former cabinet minister, has just finished speaking

While Wes Streeting claimed earlier that he was the politician who started proposing a gradual, New Zealand-style ban on smoking (see 2.32pm), in fact Javid has a better claim to be the parent of this legislation. As health secretary, he commissioned a report from Dr Javed Khan called “Making smoking obsolete”. It proposed gradually raising the age at which people can legally buy tobacco. But the report was published in June 2022, in the dying days of Boris Johnson’s premiership, and with Liz Truss soon to take over, and at the time it was shelved.

Javid told MPs that the bill was for a “world-leading proposal backed by clinical evidence” and that it was strongly supported by the public.

UK households face second year without improved living standards, says IMF

Britain’s households will endure a second year without an improvement in their living standards in 2024 as the effects of high inflation take time to abate, the International Monetary Fund has revealed. Larry Elliott has the story here.

Steve Brine (Con), chair of the Commons health committee, is speaking now. He starts by saying he will be voting for the bill.

UPDATE: Brine said:

I have always believed that in a publicly-funded healthcare system we have a right and I would say indeed a responsibility to act on public health, because it becomes everyone’s problem when we don’t.

If you are a Conservative and a smaller state is your thing, although I never can pinpoint which part of the state many people don’t want their constituents to have, you should be right behind a healthier society, one that needs the state less, one that relies on the state less, one that costs the state less.

Updated

Kirsten Oswald is speaking now on behalf of the SNP. She says she is in favour of the bill. She points out that Scotland was the first place in the UK to ban smoking in pubs and other public buildings. So Scotland has been “in the front of the curve on these issues”, she says.

Truss says that a few weeks ago she tried to get MPs to vote for her private member’s bill to stop teenagers accessing puberty blockers.

This line jars a bit with the libertarian tone of her opening remarks in the speech, but it becomes clear where Truss is going when she accuses Labour of filibustering during that debate. She claims that that episode showed, while Labour claims today to be concerned about the health needs of children, it does not always act that way.

She says this is being pushed by Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England. The bill reflects the view “that government knows best”.

After asking how shopkeepers will be able to enforce the bill, when they have to ask adults what age they are, she ends by saying that the bill is unconservative and illberal and that she won’t be supporting it.

Truss claims 'health police' will impose futher bans if bill to gradually outlaw smoking is passed

Liz Truss, the former Tory PM, is speaking now.

She says she is not opposing the bill because she loves smoking. She goes on:

The reason I’m speaking today is I’m very concerned that this policy putting being put forward is emblematic of a technocratic establishment in this country that wants to limit people’s freedom. And I think that is a problem.

She says the idea that the government “protect adults from themselves is hugely problematic”.

She claims she spends a lot of time campaigning in her constituency, and has never come across anyone demanding a gradual smoking ban.

The idea is being pushed by officials, she says (repeating a line she has used in interviews).

She says, when Thérèse Coffey was health secretary (when Truss was PM), officials in the health department tried to get her to adopt this plan. Coffey refused, she says.

Truss goes on:

My real fear is that this is not the final stage that the health police want to push … They want to be able to make their own decisions about what they eat, what they drink, and how they enjoy themselves.

UPDATE: Truss said:

The reason I am speaking today is I am very concerned that this policy being put forward is emblematic of a technocratic establishment in this country that wants to limit people’s freedom, and I think that is a problem.”

The problem is the instinct of this establishment, which is reflected by a cross-party consensus today in today’s chamber, is to believe that they, that the government are better at making decisions for people than people themselves and I absolutely agree that that is true for the under 18s.

It is very important that until people have decision-making capability while they are growing up that we protect them. But I think the whole idea that we can protect adults from themselves is hugely problematic and it effectively infantilises people, and that is what has been going on.

And what we’re seeing, is we’re seeing not just on tobacco but also on sugar, also on alcohol, also on meat, a group of people who want to push an agenda which is about limiting people’s personal freedom, and I think that is fundamentally wrong.

Updated

Streeting says Labour tried to ban vapes that appeal to children when parliament passed the Health and Care Act in 2021. If the government had accepted the Labour amendment, it would have stopped thousands of children becoming addicted to nicotine.

And he winds up:

Now the prime minister may be too weak to whip his MPs to vote for this important bill. But on these benches we will put country first and foremost. We will resist the temptation to play games on votes. Instead, we will go through the voting lobbies today to make sure that this legislation is passed so that young people today are even less likely to smoke than they are to vote for the Conservatives.

Updated

Sir Simon Clarke (Con), an opponent of the bill (see 9.38am), says he is proud to call himself a libertarian. (Streeting has been tauning the Tory libertarians sitting alongside Liz Truss in the chamber.) Clarke says he is does believe in the value of freedom.

Streeting says in this context Clarke’s support for libertarianism means supporting the right of children to become addicted to tobacco for life.

Streeting says Labour would back consultation on vaping law, but says 'no excuse' for flavours designed to addict children

Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, intervenes, and asks Wes Streeting if Labour is in favour of a consultation on how to implement the vaping restrictions in the bill. Earlier, in response to a previous intervention, Streeting was evasive on this point.

Streeting says it is absurd that he is being asked about consultation policy when he is not in government.

Atkins asks again. Streeting says she is just trying to curry favour with Tory MPs by attacking him. But he says the government is perfectly able to carry out a consultation, and he will support them in doing that.

Vicky Ford (Con) intervenes. She says this is a serious question. She says there are adults who want to switch from smoking to vaping, but who don’t like the taste of flavourless vapes. If the bill bans flavoured vapes (the ones most attractive to children), they might not switch.

Streeting says that is a sensible point. She says government needs to get the regulation right. But he says there is “absolutely no excuse whatsoever” for flavoured vapes “deliberately and willfully designed to addict young people”.

Wes Streeting tells MPs gradual smoking ban is 'a Labour bill' and Truss right to call it 'unconservative'

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is speaking now. He starts by saying that in the early 2000s smoking was common in pubs. But Labour banned that, and it made a huge difference. He says:

The last Labour government banned smoking in public places. And it made an enormous impact on the health of our nation.

Just the following year, there were 1,200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks. According to the British Medical Journal, since 2007 the number of people who smoke has been cut by almost a third.

Our understanding of secondhand smoke grew and with it the culture changed around where it was acceptable to smoke. Even at home, people went outside to smoke instead of smoking in front of their children. A study in Scotland found that while hospital admissions for children with asthma were increasing 5% a year before the smoking ban, in the three years following Labour’s legislation, admissions were down by 18%.

He says Labour needed no persuasion to back this legislation.

And he claims this is the latest example of the government stealing a Labour idea. He proposed a gradual ban on smoking like this in a Times interview last January, he says.

I said that it was time for a New Zealand style smoking ban. I argued that a progressive ban would have a transformational impact on the health of individuals, the health of the nation as a whole and also on the public finances.

(In fact, although Streeting did float the idea more than a year ago, he did not firmly commit to it. He said he would consult on whether it was feasible.)

Streeting says he agrees with Liz Truss; this is an unconservative measure. (See 10.44am.)

He goes on:

This is absolutely an unconservative bill. It is a Labour bill and we’re delighted to see the government bring it forward.

Updated

Atkins has now finished. Judging by the interventions, getting Conservative MPs to vote for this will be a hard sell. Most of the Tory MPs who asked a question were critical; they weren’t angry or outraged – just very, very sceptical about whether this might work.

Atkins is again talking about her record as a prosecutor. She says her favourite offence is cheating the public revenue, which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

This was in response to an intervention about the risk of a ban increasing illegal tobacco sales.

Atkins claims dealing with damage caused by smoking account for 7p in every £1 raised in income tax

Atkins is now addressing the economic case for the gradual smoking ban.

She claims that smoking costs the economy more than £17bn – far more than the £10bn it generates in tax revenue.

The average smoker spends £2,500 a year on smoking, she says.

And she says dealing with the damage caused by smoking accounts for almost 7p in every pound raised from income tax.

Giles Watling (Con) says that he used to smoke and that he wishes vaping had been available when he was giving up. He asks Atkins for an assurance that she will not “throw the baby out with the bathwater” by imposing such strict restrictions on vaping that people stop having access to vapes.

Atkins says the bill is intended to stop children vaping, not adults.

Tory rightwingers challenge Atkins to explain how gradual smoking ban would work

Sir Edward Leigh (Con) intervened to ask Atkins who she would answer the claim that making something illegal only increases law breaking.

Atkins said she would cover that later in her speech. But she said the point of the bill was to stop people smoking in the first place.

And Sir John Hayes (Con) said that, while he supported the moves in the bill to stop children vaping, he was concerned by the gradual smoking ban. He asked if Atkins was “open-minded” about how it could be improved. He said the bill would impose a rolling ban, with the age at which people can lawfully buy cigarettes rising by one year every year, so that at one point a 35-year-old can purchase them, but not a 34-year-old. He said this “at best a curiosity and at worst an absurdity”.

Atkins said she was always open to ideas, but that she wanted to stop future generations buying cigarettes.

And Sir Jake Berry, a former Tory chair, asked Atkins to explain how the ban would work. He said cannabis is illegal, but that has not stopped teenagers smoking it.

Atkins said asked Berry if he was implying cannabis should be legalised. She would not agree, she suggested.

Leigh, Hayes and Berry are all on the right of the party, and Berry is particularly close to Liz Truss, who has been leading the Tory attack on this bill.

Updated

Atkins opens debate on bill to impose gradual smoking ban by saying smoking kills 80,000 people a year

Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, is opening the debate on the tobacco and vapes bill.

She starts by declaring an interest; before becoming an MP, she says, she used to prosecute serious offenders – including people smuggling cigarettes into the UK.

(That does not seem particularly relevant as an interest, but does make the point that she has a record of being tough on crime.)

And then she focuses on the health problems caused by smoking.

Smoking leaves people with premature dementia. It puts them in care attached to oxygen for the rest of their life. It increases the risk of stillbirth by almost 50% it is responsible for 75,000 GP appointments every month. And it takes around 80,000 lives every year.

Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary and minister for women and equalities, has welcomed the high court ruling defending the ban on prayer rituals at the Michaela community school in London.

This ruling is a victory against activists trying to subvert our public institutions.

No pupil has the right to impose their views on an entire school community in this way. The Equality Act is a shield, not a sword and teachers must not be threatened into submission. (1/2)

Many want to smear the Michaela school because it is an EXTRAORDINARY tale of academic success….and proves the @Conservatives free school programme gave families a genuine choice, raised standards and provided opportunity -in one of the most deprived areas of London. (2/2)

Labour plans review of carer’s allowance after thousands forced to repay

Labour will review the system of carer’s allowance if it wins the general election, the party has confirmed, after the Guardian revealed that scores of unpaid carers were being forced to pay back thousands of pounds for minor breaches of benefit rules. Josh Halliday has the story.

Who is speaking at the NatCon conference in Brussels?

A reader asks:

Who is at this conference in Brussels? It would be interesting to see who Braverman is associating with.

Here are names of some of the people speaking.

There is a fuller list here.

And this is from Darren McCaffrey from Sky News with more on what is happening at the NatCon conference in Brussels.

NEW: Police now suggesting they won’t be dragging people out of @NatConTalk conference in Brussels but rather their tactic is that they are not letting anyone else in and people can leave and not re-enter the venue. Meanwhile @SuellaBraverman is continuing to deliver her speech

This is from Nigel Farage, making the point that he made to journalists earlier. (See 12.53pm.)

Sunak still waiting to talk to Israeli PM about Iran attack, No 10 says

Rishi Sunak is still seeking to speak to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to urge him to show restraint in response to Iran’s missile and drone attack, PA Media reports. PA says:

The PM had expected to speak to his counterpart yesterday, but Israeli media reported that Netanyahu was refusing to take calls from world leaders seeking to influence the response to Saturday night’s attack.

Downing Street denied the UK – which supplied RAF jets to help thwart Iran’s barrage – was being “taken for granted” by Israel and suggested Mr Netanyahu’s other commitments meant a call had not been possible.

The PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the lobby briefing said: “He has obviously been in discussions with his war cabinet.

The foreign secretary and defence secretary have been speaking to their counterparts.”

The spokesman added: “Our position has been made very clearly. We are now working with allies in the region, including Israel, to de-escalate the situation.”

Sunak told MPs on Monday he would speak to Netanyahu “shortly” to express solidarity with Israel “and to discuss how we can prevent further escalation”.

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer urges ban on transgender athletes competing in female-only events

Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, has called for transgender athletes to be banned from competing in female-only events as she urged sporting officials to draw up fresh guidelines to clarify the rules governing gender identity. Kiran Stacey has the story.

Lisa O’Carroll in Brussels says the NatCon conference – a two-day event, starting today - is being closed down gradually.

Breaking: NatCon conference is being closed down in Brussels as it is causing disturbance. Organisers just told delegates it would be “gradual”... and they would try and find venue for tomorrow

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK honorary president, has been telling journalists in Brussels that the police attempt to close down the NatCon conference there this morning has convinced him that he was right to campaign to leave the EU, Freddie Hayward from the New Statesman reports.

Farage is doing a media tour. He’s compared the situation to Soviet Russia.

He said: if anything has convinced me about leaving the EU it’s the events of today

Some of us who covered Farage during Brexit, and in the many years before, had the distinct impression he was 100% convinced about leaving the EU quite some time ago.

Liz Truss is still giving interviews today promoting her new book. As Sam Blewett from Politico reports, the Labour party has been distributing its own version to journalists in the press gallery at Westminster.

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, has been speaking at the NatCon conference in Brussels within the past few minutes, Lisa O’Carroll reports.

NatCon conference continues in Brussels, after police leave without enforcing its closure

My colleague in Brussels, Lisa O’Carroll, says the police have not been able to shut down the NatCon event in Brussels where Nigel Farage was speaking – because they don’t have the authority to do so.

Police enter venue of Nat Con conference in Brussels to serve a request to close down event. Farage on stage

Police enter venue of Nat Con conference in Brussels to serve a request to close down event. Farage on stage. Police return with slip of paper unsigned. They confirm organisers under no obligation to sign paper.

Police confirm the organisers are under no obligation to sign paper they bring to venue + organisers point out they cannot stop conference in private venue. Not clear who has objected

And this is from Darren McCaffrey from Sky News.

Several police officers, maybe 5 went inside the venue but stopped short of the stage. They then left. Still claiming they are legally going to enforce the judgement to shut the venue down - stalemate at the moment

Yousaf says clinicians, not politicians, are best placed to decide if under-18s should get puberty blockers

Humza Yousaf’s claim that voting Green in Scotland could undermine the independence cause (see 10.38am) came in a wide-ranging a wide-ranging interview on BBC Radio Scotland that followed a bruising recess which saw his new hate crime law descend into chaos with thousands of vexatious complaints to the police. Here are some of the other points he made.

  • Yousaf called for “cool heads” in the Middle East and called for an end to arms sales to Israel. He said:

It is morally unjustifiable to send weapons to a government that has not only killed innocent civilians, has bombed hospitals, UN facilities, refugee camps, and …almost 200 humanitarian workers.

Yousaf also revealed he had yet to be briefed by the UK government on their reasons for intervention.

  • He said that he had read the Cass Review and that Scottish health boards would take time to “explore it in detail” and continue to liaise with Cass herself. On whether puberty blockers should be prescribed to under-18s, which is no longer allowed in England, he said “clinicians are best placed, not politicians” to decide.

Let me say very clearly that when it comes to the prescribing of medicine, clinicians are best placed not politicians, government ministers or myself as first minister.

  • He said that he didn’t believe there was a case to close the Sandyford clinic, which provides gender services for young people in Scotland and has been compared to the controversial Tavistock by critics.

I don’t believe that there’s a case to close the Sandyford. The Sandyford provides some exceptional health care to some of those who are the most marginalised and vulnerable not just young people, but right across the spectrum.

  • Yousaf accused “bad faith actors” of putting in thousands of vexatious complaints to discredit the new hate crime law. He defended the legislation, saying it safeguarded vulnerable communities.

  • And he said that the proposed misogyny bill, which has been proposed to protect women from hate crime but also covers street and online harassment, would include transgender women. He noted that a man threatening a woman on the street may well not know whether that individual was transgender or cisgender.

Updated

Police arrive to shut down rightwing conference in Brussels as Nigel Farage speaking

Suella Braverman may not be addressing the NatCon conference in Brussels after all. (See 11.28am.) The mayor of Brussels has reportedly told the police to close it down. They seem to have arrived as Nigel Farage, the Reform UK honorary president, was speaking.

Lisa O’Carroll, the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, has this

These are from Darren McCaffrey from Sky News.

NEW: Now appears the Mayor of Brussels is trying to shut down the NatCon Conference for the THIRD time just before @Nigel_Farage and @SuellaBraverman take to the stage

Claiming “the far right is not welcome here”

LATEST: The Police have indeed turned up

UPDATE: Police normally formally warning the venue has 15 mins to close down. Farage is still on stage

And this is from Emir Kir, the mayor of Saint-Josse-Ten-Noode, a district in the Brussels region.

I issued an order from the council to ban the “National Conservatism Conference” event to guarantee public safety.

In Etterbeek, Brussels City and Saint-Josse, the far-right is not welcome.

Last year the National Conservatism movement held a conference in London. It was not shut down, although some of the views expressed were widely described as eccentric or extreme. This is what Peter Walker wrote about it at the time.

Updated

Laura Farris, the victims minister, was doing a media round this morning to promote plans being announced by the Ministry of Justice to make creating sexually explicit “deepfake” images a criminal offence. The MoJ’s news release is here, and here is a story.

Farris said:

The creation of deepfake sexual images is despicable and completely unacceptable irrespective of whether the image is shared.

It is another example of ways in which certain people seek to degrade and dehumanise others - especially women. And it has the capacity to cause catastrophic consequences if the material is shared more widely. This government will not tolerate it.

This new offence sends a crystal clear message that making this material is immoral, often misogynistic, and a crime.

Penny Mordaunt reportedly considering not voting for bill to gradually ban smoking

Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons and a potential alternative Tory leader, is among cabinet ministers wavering over whether to support the prime minster’s generational smoking ban.

Mordaunt is known have reservations about Sunak’s tobacco and vapes bill and the precedent it sets for banning unhealthy things.

That position mirrors criticism from outspoken opponents of the bill including Liz Truss and Sir Simon Clarke who have suggested the ban could be a “slippery slope” towards banning fast food or other things.

However, it is not clear yet whether Mordaunt has decided to vote against the bill, which is particularly important to Sunak as a legacy achievement of his time in Downing Street. At the same time, opposition by Mordaunt, who is regarded as a leadership candidate of the centre, could boost her standing as a more traditional Conservative among Tory grassroots and MPs from the party’s libertarian wing.

Before she became an MP in 2010, Mordaunt was a director at Media Intelligence Partners (MIP), a communications company. After she resigned from the firm, it was involved in working for the tobacco giant Phillip Morris International as it campaigned against the coalition government’s plain packaging plans for cigarettes.

At least three cabinet minister are thought to be considering voting against the bill, which has its second reading in parliament today. (See 9.38am.)

At 12.30pm a transport minister will respond to an urgent question in the Commons tabled by Labour on job losses in the rail industry. That means the debate on the smoking ban will will not start until about 1.15pm.

Braverman tells Tories that, if they want ECHR withdrawal, including it in 'losing' manifesto would be big mistake

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is one of the Britons speaking at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels starting today. The conference, which features hardline rightwingers from around the world committed to the NatCons’ ‘faith, flag and family’ brand of conservatism, is going ahead despite two venues refusing to host them at relatively short notice.

According to extracts from her speech released in advance to favourable papers, Braverman will argue that hints from Rishi Sunak that he might leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) are phoney. In what seems to be a reference to what Sunak told the Sun about this recently, she will say:

The current UK government doesn’t have the political will to take on the ECHR and hasn’t laid the ground work for doing so.

And so it’s no surprise that recent noises in this direction are easily dismissed as inauthentic.

But, more interestingly, Braverman is also arguing that the Conservatives should not commit to leaving the ECHR in their manifesto. As the Mail reports, she will say:

Any attempt to include a plan for ECHR withdrawal in a losing Conservative election manifesto risks setting the cause back a generation.

Presumably Braverman is saying this because, like everyone, she assumes the Conservatives will lose the next election badly, and she is calculating that a defeat like that with ECHR withdrawal in the manifesto will result in generation of Tories concluding it’s a vote-loser. (My colleague Rafael Behr was making exactly this argument on X earlier this month.)

But, from the briefings in today’s papers, it is not clear what Braverman does want the party to do to enable ECHR withdrawal to happen.

One option would be to withdraw before a general election. But that would require a new leader (Braverman may have a candidate in mind), and, almost certainly, legislation which would never pass before polling day.

Another option would be just to commit to a referendum on ECHR withdrawal in the manifesto. But Labour won’t match this, and so this would also result in a heavy Tory election defeat being associated with a withdrawalist policy.

The third option would be to park the issue of now, and resurrect it when the Tories are in opposition, under a new leader. For Tories passionate about wanting to implement this policy, this approach might make some sense. But it does not exude confidence.

Instead, Braverman seems to be implying that ECHR withdrawal has to be in a “winning” Conservative election manifesto. But quite where and how the party is going to conjure such a thing up is not at all clear.

Updated

Applications spike ahead of deadline tonight to register to vote in local elections

Anyone not registered to vote in the local, mayoral and police commissioner elections on 2 May has only a few hours left to apply, amid signs of a late surge in interest, PA Media reports. PA says:

A range of contests are taking place across England and Wales on polling day, with every voter able to take part in at least one type of election.

Nearly 2,700 council seats in England are up for grabs across 107 local authorities, while 37 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales will also be chosen.

Polls are also taking place to elect some of the most high-profile mayors in the country, including Greater Manchester, London and the West Midlands.

People who have not yet registered to vote, or are not sure if they are eligible, have until 11.59pm on Tuesday to submit an application.

This can be done online at gov.uk/registertovote.

Around 44 million people are estimated to be eligible to vote in the elections on 2 May, but as many as seven million people are either incorrectly registered or missing from the register entirely, according to the Electoral Commission, which oversees all elections in the UK.

Some 43,037 applications were made on Monday, the highest for a single day so far this year and some way above the previous peak of 31,496 on April 2, government figures show.

Here is the clip of Liz Truss telling Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor, that the legislation imposing a gradual ban on smoking is unconservative.

Humza Yousaf claims voting Green in Scotland could harm independence cause

Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has claimed that voting Green in Scotland at the general election could harm the independence cause.

Although the Scottish Greens support independence, like the SNP, Yousaf argued that people voting for them would reduce the chances of the SNP winning seats at Westminster.

The two parties have a power-sharing agreement at Holyrood, and two Green MSPs are Scottish government ministers, but, as PA Media reports, cracks have been beginning to show in the pact in recent weeks as they gear up for the election. The Scottish Greens have said they will field at least 32 candidates north of the border at the general election – their highest number ever.

In an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, Humza Yousaf said his coalition partners – whom he has repeatedly praised, referring to the deal between the two as “worth its weight in gold” – were unlikely to win a seat in Scotland but could detract from their shared goal of separation. He said:

If you believe in independence, you want to advance the cause of independence, then I would urge people to vote for the SNP.

To be clear, though we are in government with the Greens we are – to state the obvious – different political parties that will often compete in a number of different elections.

Therefore, yes, I think there’s a real danger for those that believe in independence, believe in progressive values that if you vote for the Greens, that could end up taking votes away from the SNP.

And with the greatest of respect to my Green colleagues, they’re not going to win a Westminster seat in Scotland.

Liz Truss wrong to call for supreme court to be abolished, says minister

In another interview this morning, Laura Farris, minister for victims, told GB News that she thought Liz Truss, the former PM, was wrong to call for the supreme court to be abolished. Asked about the proposal (one of many provocative things Truss has been saying in interviews to promote her new book), Farris said:

I’ve got to say, I don’t agree actually. I think that we have a healthy democracy, a pluralistic democracy.

And I think that institutions like the supreme court are vital, actually. And it’s always been the case that … our judiciary is admired the world over.

Laura Farris, a Home Office minister, was doing the government interview round this morning. She said she supported the smoking bill because she took up smoking herself at the age of 12 and always regretted it. She told LBC:

I think this is a very, very sensible policy and I’m not particularly interested in arguments about freedom on this one.

It took me years and years and years to quit. It’s one of my biggest regrets, actually.

I’ve got two young kids now and the fact that they will never be able to walk into a shop and buy a packet of cigarettes is something I welcome.

I have never met a single smoker who’s glad they did it, wishes that their children do it, can identify a single health benefit or any other life benefit.

It gets you hooked. It’s a horrible habit. And even when you’re doing it, you know that you’re causing yourself irreparable harm. And it’s incredibly difficult to get off.

Public support for gradual ban on smoking does not mean it's good policy, says Truss ally Simon Clarke

Opinion polls rarely offer Rishi Sunak any comfort these days but, on the proposed gradual ban on smoking, they provide welcome reading for No 10, because they have consistently shown high levels of public support for what the government is doing.

Here are figures from a YouGov poll last October, showing that 62% of people support either the proposed gradual ban on smoking or something even stronger (an immediate ban).

And this chart, from a More in Common report, suggests that a gradual ban on smoking is a policy that voters from all the main UK parties are more likely to support than oppose. Even Reform UK supporters, who you might assume would be ideologically aligned with the Liz Truss position (see 9.38am and 9.43am) on balance like it.

In his Today interview this morning the Truss ally Sir Simon Clarke was asked about polling, and figures showing that 70% of people who voted Tory in 2019 backed Sunak’s bill. Clarke fell back on the argument that, just because something is popular, that does not make it right. He told the programme:

There are some things, of course, which are not necessarily philosophically or practically right which would command support in the opinion polls.

I think probably if you were to do an opinion poll on bringing back hanging you’d find that there was a significant proportion of people who backed it, that wouldn’t necessarily mean it was the right thing to do.

Liz Truss blames ‘unelected’ health department officials for smoking ban, in apparent jibe at Chris Whitty

Liz Truss has blamed “unelected individuals” in the Department of Health and Social Care for the government’s planned smoking ban, in apparent attack on civil servants such as the chief medical officer for England, Sir Chris Whitty. Ben Quinn has the story here.

MPs’ vote on gradual smoking ban set to expose Tory splits over key Sunak policy

Good morning. When David Cameron looks back on his premiership, one of the things he did that is most likely to be regarded as a positive achievement – now and in the future – was passing equal marriage legislation. But it only went through with opposition votes, because more than half of Conservative MPs opposed it. Today Rishi Sunak is asking MPs to vote for another piece of legislation which, potentially, could have a transformative effect on life in Britain. And, like Cameron, he is legislating against the grain of opinion in his party.

As Andrew Gregory and Ben Quinn report in our preview story, Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, has been wheeled out to make the case for the tobacco and vapes bill, which would prevent anyone who is turning 15 this year, or younger, from ever being able to legally buy tobacco products and which is getting its second reading today. Sunak’s government is only responsible for health policy in England, but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to adopt the legislation too.

Labour is backing the bill, and it seems certain to pass.

But Sunak has offered Tories a free vote, on the grounds that this should be a “conscience issue” for his MPs, and dozens of Conservatives are expected to abstain or vote against. Technically this won’t count as a rebellion, because they won’t be defying the whip. But, to Sunak, it may feel like a revolt.

In his Daily Mail column last week Boris Johnson said the policy was insane. He wrote:

When the party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars, donnez-moi un break, as they say in Quebec - it’s just mad.

Another former PM, Liz Truss, told the BBC yesterday:

We’re a free country. We shouldn’t be telling people not to smoke and I worry about where it will lead.

And on the Today programme this morning Sir Simon Clarke, levelling up secretary in Truss’s short-lived cabinet, took the same line. He said:

There are good ways to tackle a problem like this and then there are bad ways, and I think that an outright ban risks being counterproductive, I think it actually risks making smoking cooler, it certainly risks creating a black market, and it also risks creating a unmanageable challenge for the authorities.

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, more than 50 Conservative MPs are “preparing” to vote against the bill. And the Times says two or three cabinet ministers may refuse to support Sunak. In their story Chris Smyth and Steven Swinford write:

Two or three cabinet ministers are said to have privately signalled scepticism over the bill, with [Kemi] Badenoch among those unconvinced. She is yet to decide how to vote but has previously spoken of her discomfort with bans and wrote in The Times during her 2022 leadership campaign: “Too often people feel that whoever is elected, the answer is more government. By promising too much and trying to solve every problem, politicians don’t reassure and inspire, they disappoint and drive disillusion.”

Steve Barclay, the environment secretary who was health secretary when Sunak announced his smoking policy, is also said to have misgivings about the wisdom of a ban. He will not vote against the policy which he is on record as praising, but may opt to abstain, citing a busy diary. Alister Jack, the Scotland secretary, is not expected to oppose the ban but is considering whether to abstain.

Does it matter if a sizeable number of Tory MPs fail to support their leader on this? In legislative terms, probably not very much. But Sunak will soon be fighting an election, and this shows that on at least one key issue (and one with which he is strongly identified personally – no one else in government is pushing this), he is not fundamentally aligned with the instincts of many people in his party. That helps to explain why Tory members seem to be losing faith in him.

Here is the agenda for the day.

8.45am: Rishi Sunak chairs a political cabinet, before the regular weekly cabinet meeting.

10am: Former Post Office executives David Miller and David Mills give evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.

10.15am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK honorary president, speaks at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels. Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, is speaking at 12.45pm and Miriam Cates, the co-chair of the New Conservatives group of Tory MPs, is speaking at 2.45pm.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

11.30am: Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, speaks to the Scottish TUC conference in Dundee.

After 12.45pm: MPs begin the debate on the second reading of the tobacco and vapes bill. The vote will be at 7pm.

3.10pm: David Cameron, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the House of Lords.

After 3.50pm: Peers debate amendments to the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill.

If you want to contact me, do use the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

Updated

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