Government’s Claim That Smoking Ban Will Cut NHS Costs Are “Not True” Says Christopher Snowdon

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 objecting to it in a blow to his authority.
MPs voted 383 to 67, majority 316, to give the Tobacco and Vapes Bill a second reading.
The legislation, seen by the Prime Minister as a key part of his long-term legacy, would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born after January 1 2009, with the aim of creating a “smoke-free” generation.
It does not criminalise current smokers, but is aimed at preventing the harms caused by smoking, the leading causes of preventable illness and death in the UK.
Conservative MPs were given a free vote on the Bill, meaning those who voted against the Government’s position will not face punishment.
TalkTV’s Mike Graham is joined by Head of Lifestyle Economics at IEA Christopher Snowdon, who says: “the ageing population is the thing that’s going to bring the NHS down, not smoking.”
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#smokingban #rishisunak #government

[@simonbradford5954]

Ban fast food joints and processed food then watch the NHS free up.

[@BenWharfe-vr1pn]

Maybe the NHS should stop treating non British citizens, surely that would cut costs🤷🏼

[@wjhd6823]

Bless your little racist cotton socks 🥰

[@Truthseeker6859]

@@wjhd6823Bless your socialist delusions.

[@jaycryer6017]

@@wjhd6823grow up. No other country in the world does it. Put your racist, victim card back in your pocket for another day Karen. It’s numbers, if people don’t contribute but you give them free health care, eventually it runs out of money

[@davidenko2468]

​@@wjhd6823 that would help he is right

[@YoutubeCensoredPlatform]

@@wjhd6823 No racist though is it ., most benefit claimants are foreigners screaming poverty , whilst living in houses with 10 others who likely work for the nhs.

[@juliacarr5039]

NHS : smoking related patients cost 3.3 billion,drug addiction cost 3.3 billion,obesity costs 5.1 billion a year!

[@paulmint1775]

You should see my yearly Ganja bill !! All that money and no tax for the government

[@jonwoodmass2849]

🐑🐑🐑

[@anneominous7172]

Also look up the taxes tobacco products bring in. They're going to get that from SOMEWHERE, believe it.

[@adama8570]

24million alcoholics in the UK - the alcohol industry laughing all the way to the bank! Thousands dying every day from long term alcohol damages -alcohol dementia alone costs billions!

[@juliacarr5039]

@@paulmint1775 😂

[@lesleywhibley]

The NHS would have the money if this government wasn't wasting it on hotel bills for the boat people.

[@AntonHoward-mx9sb]

Howsabout we stop giving free healthcare to people who haven't paid into the system.

[@robb2650]

The tax off cigarettes has propped up the nhs for years. we elect government to keep the country running, not to nanny us they need to legalise cannabis similar to Germany and make the money from that now leave smokers alone

[@hudsonbear5038]

In 2022/2023 tobacco tax revenue raised £10.04 billion for the government(govs own stats). The NHS spend just over £3billion on smoking related illness's.. So this will actually do more harm too the NHS lol... And to be clear I am not a smoker. Never have and never will be.. I am just point out facts..

[@jackieporter5323]

Exactly so, the freedom to choose has been eradicated in so many ways. The revenue from tax on cigarettes and tobacco and on wines and spirits has been lost , with nothing to take its place. This legislation has killed the pubs and clubs , the consequential revenue has been lost . There is no joined up thinking here.

[@ktheed123]

They Want the NHS to collapse that's why they doing it.

[@nicholawilson8555]

Yes ❤

[@giacomoneri1782]

​@@jackieporter5323 I heard live concerts can cause permanent hearing damage. Should Londonistan ban rock'n'roll too?

[@Aloh-od3ef]

No one is talking about where the government will get the BILLIONS in tax revenue. When everyone stops smoking? The tax burden will be passed onto all of the people who never smoked! People have complained about smoking to the point a government is banning cigarettes. Now those same people will have to pay additional taxes as a result! Great work people 🤦‍♂️

[@happytimes6113]

Tobacco industry troll!

[@keithgoodrick-meech3921]

Prohibition just opens doors for criminals to make money. Booze, cigarettes, drugs etc, how can those in charge Not see it.?

[@HumanitySwatt]

Am so sicks of all this PMs who’s supported prohibitions and blacks markets, they should be fired and sued.

[@davecalderdalelufc8173]

They should all be in prison. sick of old mp's dictates the next generation future. The government should be full of young people. Let them decide their own future's. Great comment by the way. 👍

[@roycampbell5605]

Of course it won't cut nhs costs .the revenue on tobacco more than finances the nhs.

[@djmattblack]

Pretty soon you'll have to go to underground clubs just to smoke

[@veronicaladd5821]

Exactly

[@user-zh2ml5mf7q]

& maybe stop handing out money to WEF & France & Rwanda Like your a rich daddy Give your own away!!

[@Truthseeker6859]

What a useless piece of legislation, when there are real problems that need fixing.

[@happytimes6113]

Tobacco industry troll…you are on every feed!

[@oceanpier]

Basically making the public responsible for their contempt for the NHS. Same old, same old.

[@roblloyd1879]

So they want to ban the sale of tobacco yet legalise the sale of marijuana (weed). Very logical I must say.

[@Jim90117]

Smoking brings in far more money in tax than it costs the NHS to treat smoking related illness, this is a loss of money not a net gain.

[@ivorbiggen2251]

Smoker of 30 years here. Smoking is bad for you, everyone should stop and no one should start… but how many more choices are you going to take away? Weed as never been legal as it stopped a single person smoking it? Nah, they’ll just get their tobacco from the same guy who sells em their weed 🤷🏻

[@eyeinthesky74]

Best get them voted out...I was paying £3.50 for 50g pouch of tobacco in Portugal......England £22 for 30g.... Alcohol kills more people than smoking but because the government like a tipple they won't ban it. How many smokers will vote against The Tories..torries out

[@paulgal]

That’s because more people drink than smoke . Smoking kills almost everyone who does it . Drinking doesn’t .

[@dominiclane8538]

Well it's labour who has helped vote this through

[@eyeinthesky74]

@@paulgal The fact is that more people die of drinking than smoking....... So that's more people dead because of drinking than smoking..so less death is better than more...drinking is worse but you don't see warnings on a pint of beer/wine/spirits...

[@eyeinthesky74]

@@dominiclane8538 I wouldn't vote for Labour either.....

[@itnahtapohcysp]

What?? Professional Liars are lying

[@dnakatomiuk]

Where will they get the money from the loss of smoking ??? Yeah that's right make new taxes and raise taxes elsewhere

[@dilbertfish]

If we could stop the sugar saturation, that would be a good start. Also, smoking is such a minor thing these days, even counting vapes, I see about 5-10 people. Compared to the 80's, when we had ashtrays in hospitals, it's a nothingness.

[@elizabethmair2948]

Currently it's illegal to buy cigarettes under 18 the new law says under 16 how does that help. We already can't police the law we have.

[@DeanEdwardHall]

It's ludicrous, fight for your rights to be whoever you want to be 💯

[@chelok7805]

As a non-smoker who used to smoke, I agree. You ban smoking, you will create a black market and the government a very big portion of tax income. Eventually the budget for the NHS will be cut and many departments more.

[@paulsmith982]

Am I the only one who thinks that the cigarette issue is purely a desperate measure from a desperate PM, to deflect from the Tories blunders with Rwanda, climate change, Trans issues, the cost of living, the SNP, the Panic of 2020, Sad IQ Khan, and all the rest? And, looking at the amount of time being devoted to cigarettes, it's working as far as the media are concerned,

[@petersmith6974]

Processed foods and takeaway foods and lack of exercise are a drain on nhs. Not smoking

[@nitoundead3772]

Hang on. Tobacco duties are levied on purchases of cigarettes, hand-rolled tobacco, cigars and other forms of tobacco. In 2023-24 we estimate that tobacco duties will raise to £10.4 billion. This represents 1.0 per cent of all receipts and is equivalent to 0.4 per cent of national income. 10.4 is bigger than 3.3 for those confused? Is this a joke? The money is already there for the nhs except the remaining 6.1 billion wont be made, thus raising other taxes. Why does no one use numbers, they dont lie and can show you alot. I feel like im addressing 11 year olds

[@XTRAIT-em4rx]

Where's the Tax loss from the selling cigarettes going hit the public..

[@kingkong81icloud]

I just got some tobacco seeds

[@nickrudd2568]

You should do a 'How i grew my own Bacci' KZbin series. Ill be watching them

[@dixie3058]

​@@nickrudd2568and me lolx

[@user-ey3mx3xp2e]

Will they also ban food to stop the obesity problem or ban alcohol to stop all the alcohol related deaths

[@dion5804]

Nice idea.

[@enjoyyoursleep1]

agree. you watch....

[@MajorMinor1970]

Britain - "ban cigarettes, they are harmful to children" Also Britain - "make weed legal!"

[@dank9640]

weed isnt bad? its legal in the US and Canada now. Also you can smoke it if you go to Amsterdam

[@EnterTheSoundscape]

You realise these are not the same people right? No one likes the hypocrisy. Either ban all harmful substances like smoking and alcohol, or make weed legal.

[@mrsillywalk]

@@dank9640 Governments like to make people feel guilty. It is a method of control.

[@matthewbutt8803]

@@dank9640 weed, like other substances, CAN be bad

[@ivorbiggen2251]

@@dank9640 Anything you smoke is bad for your body. Smoke isn’t intended to be inhaled

[@user-bq3og5pz9w]

It’s your property: body and do as you wish with it and if any man or woman that’s not your mum or dad try’s to say what good for you , say thanks for your advice but one has got it from here.

[@joshuabirch1213]

We have a shared/ National health care system which we all pay into. Your logic only works if that wasn't the case. If the population wants to smoke, be fat and take drugs. Then there's a conversation to be hard. However, I don't want to live in a libertarian society. But we have reached a stress point in the economy. Our politicians have lied to us for generations. Squanders our wealth and found scapegoats to blame. So called journalists like on this show support an agenda to keep you stupid. The sad reality however, is we are moving to a world that cannot afford for people to be stupid and ignorant.

[@leswatson8563]

What a pity so much air time is given to smoking bans, when targets to deal with asbestos in the home and workplace continues to slip everywhere backwards, it seems?

[@Gina-1274]

Cut costs by making NHS just for British tax payers and of that nationality not the world

[@uselessoldman7964]

I was warned about the imminent smoking ban 12 months before Ireland introduced it. The reason behind it was simple, corporations wanted their employees to stop taking smoking breaks !! Thats why this is happening, our quick regular break times are behind it nothing to do with our health.

[@DavidThomas658]

Walking around the streets in London I'm sick to death of having to constantly breathe in someone else's cigarette and vape smoke - and it's getting worse. I have to cross over to the other side of the street to try and avoid the harmful chemicals. I can't emphasize enough that exposure to even secondhand smoke is extremely damaging to your heart and it should be banned !!

[@karenrobinson129]

Where is the government going to make up the billions of tax revenue they get from cigarettes/tobacco? Yup,from taxpayers. That's every single taxpayer paying more to cover this. It's not millions but billions. Next will be alcohol. Those who doubt this must wake up.

[@user-ks5dv4ds5l]

Is it not amazing that a nicotine hit alters the spike proteins and alters them for better.

[@jimnaylor8339]

Sunnak sees himself as the next stalin

[@DamienNeverwinter]

Wait until we get Starmer

[@nicholawilson8555]

I wish there was a humanitarian party

[@enjoyyoursleep1]

Want to fix the NHS, put it back into the hands of the public.

[@RaoulDuke333]

1984

[@RJW998]

What a joyless and pathetic country the UK has become. Where is the fun? Freedom of choice?

[@adamsimmons631]

The Tories are a bunch of party poopers

[@dronedays450]

They say it will save money on nhs but loose millions in revenue so where will they claw that back from

[@stephenmattinson6892]

Ban every fast food outlet!!

[@enjoyyoursleep1]

No...of course, they're healthy remember....

[@Elbufeira-wh6li]

How about not giving free healthcare to people who don’t pay taxes or national insurance

[@warrior2871]

a shop keeper is not going to ask a 50 year old person for id. its stupid

[@jeffreyuprichard3754]

Worried about all those young people i know that smoke all the time A close friend of mine a smoker suddenly stopped breathing one day and died he had COPD and didn’t even know it.

[@daithomas9859]

Of course they will.

[@johncatto5019]

In this new law who will be done for it ? the person buying cigarettes, or the people selling cigarettes, or both ? I doubt it will ever be stopped.

[@ncooper8438]

I'm betting that the only objectors are the smokers and the industry. If the industry increases their backhanders to MP's I'm sure this policy will soon be binned.

[@charlenebotha7164]

Governments becoming like Stalin Communists now, will increase illegal cigarettes 10 fold, happened during Covid when it soared in SA, and hasn't stopped, lost billions in taxes, still do

[@2Treesandahorse]

Interesting that nothing is being said about booze, because they all drink so much in Westminster.

[@earlcollins9310]

They can’t even enforce the laws they currently have 🤭😂😂 of all the problems we are currently experiencing, and this muppet has this nonsense at the top of his to do list ,,

[@Sjoldschool]

Ban smoking 🚬 😹😹good luck with that… why not ban alcohol 🍷 too 😹😹unrealistic and impossible to do.

[@xelakram]

I am so tired of all these go-gooders. In fact, they make me sick. Let adults do what they want to do!

[@run2cat4run]

Number of smokers are dropping anyway and cigarettes move on selling vipes now

[@kennethmaney914]

I should check that area first, gangs and drugs abound, and it's only a spit from elsaham road

[@foesure]

What's the fine going to be? Who's going to police it?

[@louisemiller4970]

Hasn't the rate if smoking gone down anyway, it's vaping that's caused the younger generation to take up a habit

[@MQtheAI]

It's imperative that we critically assess any claims denying the inevitable growth of the black market. The reality is undeniable: the black market for cigarettes is undeniably larger than it was 20 years ago. Those who deny this fact are either misinformed or deliberately misleading. It's clear that their motives lie in pleasing certain demographics rather than addressing the pressing issue at hand. Claims that banning cigarettes won't lead to a significant black market are baseless and simply serve as a desperate attempt to cling to outdated ideologies. This is not about effective policy; it's about political posturing. The lack of viable solutions speaks volumes about the stagnation within certain political circles.

[@Alicelorraine]

I'm sure alcohol amounts to a lot of cost aswell

[@jsd8981]

Sunak and his party are desperately trying to leave something as a legacy behind after they get the boot, and they're not having much luck...

[@enjoyyoursleep1]

They'll ban smking but if a kid is born with COPD, from the stupidity of (machanical ventilation), resulting from low birth weight of the kid etc. they'll lie to the child with a streight face and do one of two things. a.) tell the kid their lungs are a bit different or b.) their lungs are normal. then years down the line, when the kid has troble breathing, give them a puffer and a psychologist.

[@tobeytransport2802]

I don’t like smoking, I don’t smoke, but this is a ridiculous idea… you only have to look at cannabis which is still used, but for cigarettes the government actually makes money on them and they could make money on cannabis too if they legalised it.

[@hello-sl7rd]

Seeing as they have banned them now, i think it would be great if they would lower the price for the people that will still be smoking till they are old and grey. When i started, 20 benson was about £3, and now it's about £16. i was allowed to smoke back then, now im forced to pay a high price because i was allowed to smoke and it made me addicted and became a part of my life, i think personally the government allowed cigarettes, they allowed the advertisement of them, they taxed them, its as if they are the dealers, and once they got you hooked they charged more and more, now all of a sudden the ban is in and they are charging the people they dealt the stuff too extortionate prices.

[@markhorton8578]

Alcohol will be next.

[@xaiano794]

You mean the guy who said Theresa may was great and Brexit would be good for the country? This is the guy you think we should listen to about smoking?

[@niklfc9384]

The tobacco lobbyists here always bad as the gun lobbyists in America.. utterly shameless..

[@paulgal]

I don’t agree with banning anything people should be able to chose what they put in their body’s. However if they chose to drink or smoke then when it comes to health care they should have to pay for it .

[@steveparsons2575]

Un police able

[@robwealer5416]

I dunno... it just seems to shift the costs of the last 10 years of life, which are the same for everyone, smokers included to a later government and fiscal budget. Each smoker will pay an extra 200k in taxes over their lives... and, albeit grimly, will need 10 to 15 years less of pension payments.

[@sensorysoul9889]

FREE THE WEED 🎉 🎉🎉🎉

[@damianbutterworth2434]

Are they going to stop illegal migrants smoking?

[@clintonwilson3863]

They'll buy them black market

[@intergalacticmuffin7071]

They will ban sugar next we live under a total clown show, dealers will now sell tobacco now aswell hahaha

[@repentmaster2842]

Majority of British are against smoking, the government got this right. Smoking is like doing drugs; Talk TV and smokers have lost their moral compass

[@sallyraynor8984]

Another lie by Rishi Sunak

[@liambowbrick3917]

Mr Bloobys daughter got a gig

[@Jackie157_]

Cant tax the people anymore shut up

[@waynewinky2754]

Just get multi packs of 200 or 400 shipped to your home address every few weeks from abroad and say their for your mum or dad! Job done you silly billy Tories

[@thewatcher2570]

Everyone is vaping now not smoking

[@dixie3058]

No they usually go back to cigarettes eventually

[@anneominous7172]

​@@dixie3058 This is scarcely true of adults let alone basically every 12 year old these days who've never smoked but vape because it's trendy.

[@hamon59]

Alcohol next and then what, fatty foods....and god help us if porn goes the same way lol.

[@andrewalexander2699]

I am making a comment without listining to a word these fools have to say, only that my sister stopped smoking many years ago is much healthier, but did stop because of the cost which put her off saved her life, and she says its ether stop or add he wold have made herself homeless many years ago and she works for a living and is in good health now, so she must have saved the government money, no pip payments no vists to hospital etc. but on the other hand she will live a long life and will claiming her state pension for many years. But some Tories arent happy ether she would spending someone else's money possibly Michael Cane's yex recipts he doesn't like sroungers you knaws you knaws

[@mchaplin66]

so more diversity staff can be employed

[@nicholawilson8555]

Tish Tosh

[@sarahwinfield3989]

What might be saved through stopping everyone smokeing will be spent in looking after the stressed out and the suicides. All Sunak is trying to do is to introduce his religion through the back door. It would be interesting to know what religious sect most illegal immigrants belong to. Certainly Sunaks disasterous results in stopping the boats would indicate he is happy for the number to continue rising exponentially.

[@footballfanatic658]

Ban the sale of tobacco, no age

[@Gina-1274]

Do 1 that's your opinion

[@anneominous7172]

I agree - let's ban everything you don't like.

[@CloppyKicks]

The government has always made more from taxing smokers than the NHS has ever spent treating them... Smokers pay for themselves in that respect. Unlike obese people.

[@dominiclane8538]

This is like a child has thought up this policy .its fcking pathetic .

[@BUY_YOUTUB_VIEWS.986]

New fan right here

[@dixie3058]

Hiya x