Warm welcome in Northern Ireland for Rishi Sunak plans to clamp down on smoking and vapes

Rishi Sunak set out plans to introduce a new law – for England – which would ban tobacco sales to anybody born on or after January 1 2009.

He also said more must be done to “restrict the availability” of vapes to children.

Irwin Armstrong, a former chairman of the NI Conservative Party, strongly welcomed the plans.

"I smoked 60 a day up during the week for about 20 years but stopped 30 years ago," he said. "It was the best thing I ever did, both from a health and financial point of view."

Retired GP and former Belfast City Councillor John Kyle has previously campaigned for a clamp down on the availability of vapes for children.

"Any proposal to reduce smoking is to be welcomed, it will save lives, although legislation to end the sale of cigarettes will not automatically stop young people taking up smoking," he said. "If this proposal is made law it should also end all possibility of legalising the use of cannabis. The campaign to legalise cannabis, which has been gaining momentum, is deeply misguided as cannabis is just as harmful, if not more so, than tobacco."

Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS) also applauded the plans.

"However, this law applies to England only, not to NI," a spokeswoman said. "This is why NICHS is calling on the NI politicians and policymakers to introduce legislation to increase the age in the sale of cigarettes and e-Cigarettes from 18 years to 21 years; we also want a new ambitious Tobacco Strategy focused on addressing health inequalities and tackling e-cigarettes."

While they would like to see the law changed now to limit sales to anyone over 21, they would support Sunak's legislation being implemented in NI, she said. However, a restored Stormont assembly is required to implement any new law or policy, she added.