Rishi Sunak faces backlash over step back from Net Zero promises
A radical change for Britain’s smokers may be on the horizon, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is pledging to bring in “some of the world’s toughest anti-smoking rules.”
That’s according to Whitehall sources who claim his plans will stop the next generation from being able to pick up a packet of cigarettes.
It’s claimed, in a report by the Guardian, the PM has been looking at how New Zealand has been implementing steady change to make it “smoke free” by 2025.
New Zealand has started by reducing the number of stores selling cigarettes from 6,000 to 600 nationwide. It also passed a law to ban anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, from buying cigarettes as part of a gradual phasing.
Under the ex-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, laws were passed to ensure cigarettes were only sold from specialised tobacco shops – making them harder to get hold of.
READ MORE: Rishi Sunak ‘must return to Tory values’ as MPs unite on PM’s ‘path to victory’
Ms Ardern’s tightening up also included a reduction of the amount of niccotine in products. It is not yet clear what precise measures Mr Sunak plans to table.
The Guardian also claims the Prime Minister is hoping to bring back the pledge to fine people £10 for missing NHS appointments – at GP surgeries and in hospitals.
This idea was dropped almost a year ago, with the Conservative Leader saying it “wasn’t the right time to take this policy forward.”
His pledge came after a whopping 15 million people miss their appointments every year, costing the NHS valuable funds, but also depriving others of healthcare.
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