Smoking age could rise to 18
Britons could be banned from buying cigarettes until they are 18, under new plans unveiled today.
As well as increasing the minimum age that people are allowed to buy cigarettes, the government is considering introducing stiffer penalties for shops caught selling to under-age customers.
“Smoking is dangerous at any age, but the younger people start, the more likely they are to become life-long smokers and to die early,” said public health minister Caroline Flint at the launch of a new consultation paper.
“Someone who starts smoking aged 15 is three times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their late twenties.
“Access to cigarettes by under-16s is not as difficult as it should be and this is partly due to retailers selling tobacco to those under the legal age. If a particular shop is known locally as the place for children and teenagers to easily buy tobacco, we want to stop that shop selling it.”
Currently nine per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds smoke, with 70 per cent of these buying their cigarettes from newsagents and corner shops.
Increasing the minimum age cigarettes can be bought at to 17 or 18 might make it easier for retailers to spot under-age smokers, the government suggests.
Additionally, toughening-up sanctions against shopkeepers, including banning repeat offenders from selling tobacco, could be brought in.
“These proposals demonstrate our determination to reduce the number of teenagers from smoking thereby reducing the number of people with preventable diseases and the incidence of health inequalities,” Ms Flint concluded.
It has been illegal to sell tobacco to under-16s since 1908, however prosecution rates against shops selling to under-age teens are low and fines typically fall far short of the £3,500 maximum.
