Streeting promises to toughen up smoking laws

Wes Streeting has promised to toughen up smoking laws with a “more ambitious” bill than the Conservatives.

The Health Secretary made the pledge while standing next to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during an event launching a new NHS consultation.

The plan, expected to be published in 2025, will also see greater use of data and technology – and Mr Streeting said the combination of genetic-testing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and big data will help predict and prevent illness.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, tabled in the last parliament, sought to prevent anyone born after January 1 2009 from legally smoking by gradually raising the age at which tobacco can be bought.

It also aimed to impose restrictions on the sale and marketing of vapes to children.

Mr Streeting told reporters at an east London health facility on Monday: “We will introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill before Christmas.

“Effectively, the debate has already begun, because people are already talking about what sort of measures would be effective, both on tobacco and on vaping.

“And we’re already kind of in that debate and listening to what people have to say.”

The Government is looking at banning smoking outside pubs, and some in the hospitality industry have raised concerns about the prospect.

Mr Streeting said: “There’s always those choices and trade-offs about the benefits to public health, and then, you know, potential downsides that people raise, either believing that it’s kind of too far an encroachment on people’s lives and liberties, or that it might impact on businesses.

“And you always have to weigh these things up, and we’ll do that.”

The Health Secretary added: “But when the smoking bill is introduced, it will be more ambitious than the bill introduced by the previous government.

“Crucially, it will mean that children growing up in our country today will be the first ever smoke-free generation.

“This was a debate that we led in opposition, and now we’ll deliver in government, and it will be transformational in terms of what is still one of the biggest killers in our country.”

Charities and health experts were dismayed when the Bill was shelved as a result of the general election being called.

Following Monday’s event, Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health – a public sector charity working to end harm caused by tobacco, said in a statement: “This will be legislation that all politicians involved in passing it will be proud of in years to come.

“Debate around the scope of the new legislation is important. However, genuine debate must not be derailed by those with commercial vested interests hiding under a facade of libertarian arguments. There is no liberty in addiction.”

Meanwhile the Prime Minister brushed off “nanny state” concerns about Labour’s plan to introduce supervised tooth-brushing for three to five-year olds.

He said: “I’m afraid the cost of not doing it is children actually losing their teeth before they’re 10 years old, and, or, very, very good NHS staff having to use their skills to take teeth out instead of doing other things.”

Mr Streeting went on to say that the use of genetic testing could be a “game-changer” for the NHS.

Private companies have said they will roll out genetic testing for patients willing to pay.

The Health Secretary said: “This is the game-changer for health and care in the 21st century, (it) is the combination of genomics, AI, machine learning and big data that will enable us not only to diagnose earlier and treat faster, but actually predict and prevent illness.

“There is huge public appetite for this – look at the numbers of people who’ve signed up to things like ‘Our Future Health’ (a health research programme partly funded by the NHS).

“I think this is a country where people are excited by science and its possibility, and want to be part of breaking new ground on research, and if we get this right, not only will Britain benefit from this ground-breaking science and technology, we will be leading the world in it.

“The challenge for the NHS is to make sure that it’s not just benefiting from innovation, that it is in the driving seat and an effective co-pilot with the incredible life sciences and med-tech sector we have in this country.”

The Prime Minister added: “That’s the second strand of the sort of broad shift that we want, which is much, much more use of technology.

“Sometimes that’s technology in terms of what’s going on with operations and the ability of technology to aid those that are carrying out the operations, but AI is going to be a big part of this.”

He said the speed at which AI is developing is creating “great potential for it to make a material difference in the health service”, adding “I think it’s absolutely huge, and this is going to be a game-changer in a short number of years.”

Plans also include updating the NHS App to summarise all of a patient’s health information, test results and letters.

The Health Secretary said the app has more subscribers than Netflix and operating it “should be as easy and even joyful as using” the streaming platform.

He added: “Unless we embrace the technology revolution, we will continue to have a public sector that is creaking and lagging far behind every other service in our life because it hasn’t kept with the times.

“The NHS is in such a poor state, I’m amazed we’re not still using carrier pigeons.”

The Daily Mail has released a new campaign to remove asbestos from all public buildings, starting with hospitals and schools.

Asked if he would pledge to tackle the issue, Sir Keir said: “Asbestos is a killer. Whatever we need to do to reduce that risk, we absolutely need to do – it’s an awful, awful killer, not just a killer, but the way in which is kills people is just dreadful.”