Tory MEPs are set to make a last ditch attempt to stop Labour-led reforms designed to reduce the take up of smoking by children.
At lunchtime today the Conservative Party’s most senior MEP is expected to make a last ditch attempt to stop Labour-led reforms designed to reduce the take up of smoking by children.
New European legislation, which has been steered through the European Parliament by Labour MEP Linda McAvan, will have its final vote today. The package has the support of a significant majority of the European Parliament and the backing of almost all EU countries, with the UK government strongly supportive.
The Tories’ ECR group was the only political group to oppose the agreement with national governments in December; the Tories voted against the agreement as a whole in committee last month, and various Tory MEPs tabled tobacco industry amendments throughout the process.
The Conservatives are now using last-minute tactics to delay the whole thing on a technicality.
Martin Callanan, the lead MEP on this issue for the ECR group, has made a formal request to delay the vote tomorrow. Just before the vote, he is expected to disrupt proceedings and force a vote on postponement. Every other mainstream political group supports the agreement.
Commenting on the move, Labour’s European spokesperson on the environment Linda McAvan MEP told Left Foot Forward:
“It is one thing to vote against the agreement, which we expect all Tory and UKIP MEPs to do, but it is another to actively campaign to derail it.
“Postponement would mean it is very unlikely we will have a tobacco directive in time for the elections, kicking the law into the long grass. It is exactly what the tobacco industry wants, as it will buy them another few years.”
The measures being voted on today include larger graphic warnings on 65 per cent of tobacco products, with national governments free to go further and introduce plain packaging; a ban on flavoured cigarettes and lipstick and perfume packs, which are specifically targeted at young people; and proper regulation of e-cigarettes for the first time.
Tobacco is the cause of more than 100,000 deaths each year in the UK – nearly half of smokers will die from a smoking related disease – and remains the leading cause of preventable premature deaths across Europe.
More than 700,000 people a year die in the European Union as a result of smoking and 70 per cent of those started smoking before the age of 18.
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16 Responses to “Tories make last-ditch attempt to prevent action on take up of smoking by children”
swatnan
There’s an even greater problem than smoking, and that is recreational drugs … and nobody’es got the guts to take that head on.
FergusReturns
The Tories and UKIP are opposing this directive because, by wiping out most of the e-cigarettes that are currently on the market, it will create a public health disaster that perpetuates tobacco use at close to the present level. Linda McAvan will have thousands of deaths on her hands after the TPD is passed.
FergusReturns
The “technicality,” by the way, is the fact that Article 18 of the TPD misrepresents scientific research to justify bans on the most effective electronic cigarettes. The scientists whose work has been misappropriated have publicly complained about how the EU have used their research.
stinkypoo
What deceitful nonsense you write. There are many (including the Tories & UKIP) who are opposing this TPD directive because it is being used a trojan horse to get legislation onto the statute books which serves no obvious purpose other to destroy the electronic “cigarette” industry, in the form of the evil Article 18.
So far these only remotely successful anti-smoking measure to emerge. Why do so many dark forces & vested interests want to do this? Well the reasons are obvious, aren’t they? Hapless nicotine addicts currently provide a guaranteed revenue stream for tobacco giants, pharmaceutical giants and most importantly of all, national governments (£11 billion pa in for HMT alone I gather). So of course, none of these vested interests actually want smokers to quit, whatever position they appear to adopt publically.
In short, Article 18 has nothing whatever to do with public health & everything to do with money. MEP’s have been pushing for Article 18 to be made a separate directive or at least have separate votes on that vs. the rest of the TPD. So far no success on that front. Not really surprising when you understand what is really going on here.
ChrisPrice4
Labour are guilty of supporting the opposition to tobacco harm reduction. This is the only proven solution for reducing smoking once the 20% Prevalence Rule operates. Prof Britton has stated that if every smoker switched to an ecig then 5 million lives would be saved just among those alive today; but that is now impossible as the new TPD will see about 80% of ecig products banned, including the best and most effective ones. 100,000 a year die in the UK from smoking, and the switch to ecigs could easily cut that in half. That is now impossible and Labour is now responsible for those deaths.
Congratulations, I hope it paid well.