Huge blow for vapers unveiled in Rachel Reeves’ gloomy Halloween Budget – how it will affect you
VAPES will be banned across the UK within eight months, the Chancellor has confirmed.
New laws will prohibit their sale from June 1, 2025 to protect kids’ health – while rolling tobacco and readymade cigarettes will both go up in price.
The crackdown will also halt the scourge of plastic littering after five million vapes a week were thrown away last year — quadruple the number from 2022.
The Government expects devolved nations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to implement the same cut-off date.
But refillable vapes will remain available as doctors use them to help people quit smoking.
The move follows mounting fears that more kids are illegally buying disposables, many of which now come in bright packaging with flavours including bubblegum, candy floss and cola.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “I can confirm that the Government will renew the Tobacco Duty escalator for the remainder of this Parliament at RPI+2%…”
She went on to say they will “increase duty by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco this year” and “introduce a flat rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026”.
Ms Reeves said this will be alongside an “additional one off increase in tobacco duty” to maintain the incentive to give up smoking.
“And we will increase the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to account for inflation since it was introduced…as well as increasing the duty in line with CPI each year going forward.
“These measures will raise nearly £1bn per year by the end of the forecast period.”
PM Sir Keir Starmer is braced for further accusations of “nanny state” interference following a slew of measures, including the proposed outdoor smoking ban.
WATCH RACHEL REEVES ON NEVER MIND THE BALLOTS
By Ryan Sabey, Deputy Political Editor
RACHEL Reeves will be grilled in a special Budget edition of The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show today.
Our Political Editor Harry Cole will put the Chancellor on the spot shortly after she’s finished delivering her crucial address in the House of Commons.
It will be available to watch on thesun.co.uk, YouTube and Sun social channels at 5.30pm.
Topics will include her decision on whether to spare motorists a fuel duty rise, and the expected eye-watering tax rises she will impose.
Since its launch earlier this year, NMTB has cemented its place at the heart of British politics.
During the General Election campaign The Sun was the only print publisher to host back-to-back grillings of Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.
Footage from The Election Showdown has been viewed over 15 million times.
NMTB has also featured interviews with ex-PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as well as senior politicians Nigel Farage, James Cleverly, Wes Streeting, Steve Reed and Bridget Phillipson
Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: “It’s deeply worrying that a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds used a vape last year.
“That is why we will be banning single-use vapes as we take action to end our throwaway culture.”
A disposable vape sells for £3-£10 depending on the brand, with the total e-cig industry worth an estimated £2.8billion in Britain.
Former PM Rishi Sunak initially announced plans to ban disposable vapes this January.
He acted over evidence showing the number of children using them had tripled in three years.
The number of those taking up the habit across all age groups has ballooned by more than 400 per cent since 2012.
While supportive of Mr Sunak’s plan at the time, Labour did not include a proposed ban in its election manifesto.