Arlene Foster has compared Rishi Sunak to Margaret Thatcher, as she criticises the Prime Minister's decision to implement an increasing ban on the age of which people can buy cigarettes.
In his keynote speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Wednesday, Sunak pledged to "raise the smoking age by one year every year".
He added: "That means a 14-year-old will never legally be sold a cigarette, and their generation can grow up smoke free."
Speaking to Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner on Britain's Newsroom, the former First Minister of Northern Ireland reacted to Sunak's speech and the ban.
Arlene Foster says Margaret Thatcher 'would never' implement such a cigarette ban
GB News
Asked for her reaction to the speech, Foster said: "I thought it was well delivered for a man who's not naturally an orator. I thought it was hugely interesting that he invoked the spirit of Margaret Thatcher. On a number of occasions he quoted Margaret Thatcher.
“He also made reference to the fact that she was a grocer's daughter, he was a pharmacist’s son, he was trying to make those parallels with her.
“I'm wanting to go back to her as opposed to any of the other Conservative leaders since then, because of course he's essentially said we have said we've had 30 years of status quo.
“That includes, of course, those Conservative leaders that have gone before him and of course Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. So I thought that was hugely interesting, actually."
Andrew then asked: "Is he Margaret Thatcher? Do you see him in the same mode as the great radical Margaret Thatcher, Arlene?"
Foster replied: "No, I don't see him in that mould at all. He tries to appeal to that for very obvious reasons, because she is still hugely popular with many of the grassroots members.
"But you cannot say that you're imbibing the spirit of Margaret Thatcher and then bringing out this phased progressive ban on cigarettes because she simply would never have brought that in."
Bev then asked Foster: "So what do you think emboldens him to make those sorts of decisions, which is in state overreach in my opinion? How is how is he able to do that in the way that Margaret Thatcher just would never have?"
Rishi Sunak announced a new ban on buying cigarettes
PA
Arlene revealed: "I think he's saying, look, we have an issue here with health. We want to stop people from having cancer. We need to step forward. And it's in the public good.
"I think it's right that he has had a free vote on this in the Commons. It'll be very interesting to see what happens in relation to that. I mean, none of us want to see our children smoking, none of us.
"But actually, in a bizarre way, I think this makes it quite attractive for young people.
"They'll be saying, oh right, it's going to be banned. So should we look at this and is it something we should try? And I think that that is really, really regressive."
