Smoking age changes: Huge overhaul set to limit who can buy cigarettes
Rishi Sunak puts forward his proposals
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has shared plans to change the age limit for young people buying ciagrettes.
He shared plans to raise the age by a year every year.
He spoke at the Conservative Party Conference today to share his plans to tackle smoking.
Mr Sunak laid out plans to stop teenagers from picking up the habit as four in five smokers have started by the time they are 20.
Rishi Sunak shared his plans
GB NEWS
Mr Sunak said: "I propose, in the future, we raise the smoking age by one year every year.
"That means a 14-year-old will never legally be sold a cigarette and they and their generation can grow up smoke free."
The Prime Minister announced the plans after previous success when raising the smoking age to 18.
He shared the plans in a bid to cut back on how preventable deaths and pressure on the NHS.
Mr Sunak said: "In our country, smoking causes one in four cancer deaths.
"It kills 64,000 people a year and leads to almost one hospital admission every minute.
"It significantly increases the risk of stroke, heart disease, dementia and stillbirths."
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The smoking age is set to rise every year
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He explained the measures come as the number of smokers is already down two thirds on the 1970s.
Rishi Sunak spoke about the Conference on a number of changes to be introduced in the UK.
He explained plans for HS2 had been cancelled among other announcements.
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