UK considers raising smoking age until cigarettes are completely banned

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made statements regarding several issues on the country's agenda at the closing of the annual conference of the Conservative Party, which he leads.

Sunak announced a plan to prevent smoking-related deaths for future generations by raising the legal age for purchasing cigarettes by one year every year, "so that eventually no one can buy them." Sunak stated that if the law is passed, it would mean that a child who is 14 years old today would never be legally able to purchase cigarettes in their lifetime.

Emphasizing the phrase "There is no safe level of smoking" at the conference, the Prime Minister said, "If we want to do the right thing for our children, we must first try to prevent young people from starting to smoke. Because if there is no serious change, thousands of children will start smoking in the coming years and their lives will be shortened."

"NOT FAIR FOR THOSE WHO SMOKE"

Underlining that the vote to be held in the British Parliament on this issue will be a "free vote," Sunak added that he does not believe it would be fair to take away the right to smoke from someone who is already a smoker.

The UK has already banned smoking in public places and raised the legal smoking age to 18. According to the country's Office for National Statistics, there are more than 5 million smokers in England and more than 6 million in the United Kingdom.