It’s official: Parliament is closed. Rishi Sunak has called a general election, and the Tobacco & Vapes Bill, which had nearly made it through the House of Commons, will now not become law.
In this quick update, we’ll explain what just happened to the proposed new vaping laws, what might happen in the next few weeks and what to expect in the years to come.
Why is the Tobacco & Vapes Bill not going ahead?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election on Wednesday 22 May, and as a result the 58th Parliament of the United Kingdom has now come to an end. Parliament was prorogued today, and will be formally dissolved by King Charles III on 30 May next week. The House of Commons will now remain empty, with no new laws being passed, until after the 4th July general election.
Whenever parliament is dissolved, bills that haven’t made it through the full ratification process yet are effectively cancelled. They become ‘fallen bills’ and they don’t progress any further.
The Tobacco & Vapes Bill had almost completed its journey through the House of Commons (source: parliament.uk). It hadn’t reached the House of Lords yet, so it didn’t stand a chance of progressing through the rest of the formal ratification process before the end of this parliament.
Technically, MPs could vote to ‘carry over’ a fallen bill from one parliamentary session to the next (source: parliament.uk) but this only happens in very rare cases. It’s almost certain that this bill is not going to be carried over. Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House, didn’t even mention the Tobacco & Vapes bill when announcing the ‘Business of the House’ yesterday, 23rd May 2024. (source: parliament.uk).
What does this mean for vapers?
For legitimate adult vapers, nothing really changes. Normal vaping laws still apply: nicotine-infused e-liquid can’t be sold in bottles larger than 10ml, and nicotine strength can’t exceed 20mg/ml (learn all about TPD & TRPR here). We can continue to enjoy a wide range of flavours (and packaging art), without any new restrictions, for the foreseeable future.
The loss of this bill isn’t necessarily good news for the vaping industry, however. Most of the new rules set out in the bill were meant to protect children from vaping (see our full in-depth guide here). If the Tobacco & Vapes bill had gone ahead, new laws would have banned unscrupulous vendors from giving out free vape samples to under-18s. The way that vapes could be displayed in brick-and-mortar shops would have changed, too. Sadly, these rules now won’t change.
What does this mean for disposables?
Disposable vapes were meant to be banned from 1 April 2025. We’re not sure if this ban will still go ahead.
Disposables were meant to be banned using existing environmental laws, rather than the Tobacco & Vapes bill. By law, DEFRA can ban any products that harm the environment … and that includes disposables. Plans had been drafted to ban disposable vapes from 1 April 2025 (source: gov.uk), but nothing had been formalised yet.
We have made enquiries to various government departments and we’re waiting to hear back about the disposables ban. As soon as we know more, we’ll update this page.
What about plans for a Smokefree Generation?
The old government’s Stopping the Start plans made a lot of sense. As ex-smokers ourselves, we personally felt that there was a lot to look forward to (see our recent article here).
We’re assuming that the Conservative Party will want to continue with their smoke-free generation plans. It’s possible that Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens will promise similar tobacco strategies, too. We look forward to reading the election manifesto for each party.
Smoking is a terrible addiction — we should be doing everything in our power to help Britain to break the habit for good. Hopefully the next batch of MPs feel the same way, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
What happens next?
The general election will take place on 4th July. Once the votes are counted, we’ll know which MPs are going to fill the 650 seats in the House of Commons when it reopens (the plan is for this to happen on 9th July). New Ministers for every government department will be chosen, and a whole new raft of bills will be put forward. Some of these might be related to vaping. We don’t know yet.
In the meantime, we can take comfort in the fact that the UK already has high standards of regulation for vaping. Products are regulated by the MHRA (the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency), and we have tighter limits on nicotine strength, ingredients and e-liquid volumes than other countries.
We’re keeping a close eye on developments. As soon as we know more, we’ll update you.
Stay safe and happy vaping!
John Boughey