Ian McCartney MP

The removal of cigarettes from public display is a step closer after MPs said vending machines should be banned and shops should keep stocks out of sight.

MPs supported a backbench amendment to outlaw cigarette vending machines in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, tabled by Makerfield MP Ian McCartney. Scotland has its own separate bill.

The vending machine amendment to the government's Health Bill was passed by the Commons. Health campaigners welcomed the step, calling it a "brave move".

The bill passed its third reading and will now go before the House of Lords.

The vending machine ban was proposed by the former Labour minister Ian McCartney, who said it would "change history".

Mr McCartney said vending machines gave young children access to cigarettes and condemned them as an "outrageous loophole in our country's safeguards" against tobacco.”

He said tobacco was still "the only product in Britain that can be sold legally, which routinely kills and injures its customers.”

Health Secretary and Leigh MP Andy Burnham said, “I note in particular the efforts of Ian McCartney. His passion and resolve have been rightly rewarded by the House today.

“Ian has announced his intention of standing down from the House at the coming election. His legacy will be one of campaigning on issues that matter to people throughout the country, from the minimum wage to other matters that he has campaigned on. Tonight his campaigning force has yet again delivered another major step forward in protecting the health of the children of this country.”

Ian's speech to Parliament follows below;

Mr. McCartney: I owe the House an explanation. Because of the complexity of some of the new clauses and amendments that we are discussing and the overlap in what we are attempting to achieve, I shall pursue amendments 5 to 8, relating to clause 22 and England and Wales, and amendments 11 to 14, relating to clause 23, which deals with Northern Ireland. I am assured by my ministerial colleagues that if the amendments that I am pursuing are accepted, that will ensure that cigarette vending machines are put out of order for good to help to protect the future health of our children. I ask all Members not to find a way of frustrating the will of the House, but to find a way of ensuring that future generations of children do not die unnecessarily as a result of cigarettes purchased from vending machines.

On 8 June, on Second Reading, I presented what I considered to be an evidence-based and compelling case for an outright ban on cigarette vending machines. I implored my right hon. Friend the then new Secretary of State

“to be brave and not to take heed of those who claim that this would be a regulation too far.” [Official Report, 8 June 2009; Vol. 493, c. 604.]

I hope that that is exactly what he and his colleagues will do in the Lobby tonight.

My amendments test the resolve of the House in attempting to close an outrageous loophole in safeguards intended to prevent tens of thousands of children from illness and premature deaths in the years to come. We require the Secretary of State to regulate to prohibit the sale of tobacco from vending machines. Why do we need to do more? Smoking is an addiction of childhood, not an adult choice. Members may come here tonight and argue that it is to do with adult choice, but it is no such thing.

More than 80 per cent. of people who start smoking before the age of 19 are hooked by then, and each year in this country people start smoking when they are as young as 10 or 11. Each year, 340,000 children in Britain start smoking, and are addicted well before they reached the age of 19.

However, it is not just a question of addiction. Members spoke earlier about the human carnage. Each year, the industry secures more than 100,000 new recruits who are not adults but children as young as 10. If the industry is to survive, it must replace the adults whom it kills—and it can do that only by replacing them with children. Tragically, year after year in my constituency and in the north-west of England as a whole, 14,000 of my fellow adult citizens die prematurely. People my age and younger will never see their children leave school, and will never see their grandchildren grow up. Why? Because they became addicted to smoking as children, and lose their lives because of it.

Tobacco is still the only product in Britain that can be sold legally which routinely, as a matter of course—daily and recurrently—kills and injures its consumers. Do not tell me that we cannot have choices! For too long the choices have been left in the hands of the tobacco industry, and they all end up as one choice: for families to watch debilitating diseases overcome their loved ones. My friend John Tiernan, who was diagnosed with cancer of both lungs at the age of 30, started smoking at 11. By the age of 31 he was dead, leaving a widow and two young children. John is not unique as a friend. We all have friends and family members to whom similar things have happened.

Smoking is the biggest health inequality indicator, accounting for 50 per cent. of the difference in life expectancy between working-class and middle-class citizens. Why? Because of its deleterious effects on our constituents.

Philip Davies:

“I am well aware that there is no problem that the right hon. Gentleman does not think can be solved by the nanny state, but if he is so passionate about the issue, why has he not tabled an amendment to ban smoking altogether rather than using the guise of restriction? Why does he not have the courage of his convictions, if that is what he really believes?”

Mr. McCartney:

“If the hon. Gentleman is such an apologist for the tobacco industry, perhaps he would like to apologise to the House for the most distasteful remarks I have heard in the Chamber in 23 years. When we are trying seriously to defend the interests of young children from the effects of tobacco smoking, all that the hon. Gentleman can produce is a quip which is not worthy of response other than this: I have given you 100,000-plus reasons why every year we should ensure that this product does not get into the hands of our children. I will give you 340,000 reasons —

Mr. McCartney:

“I realise that I should not use the word “you”. I could call the hon. Gentleman “comrade”; I could call him “the best of mates”. I could call him a
host of things, but I thought “you” was as neutral a word as I could use in the moment. I do apologise, however. I am making this point to the hon. Gentleman: learn and grow up. He should realise that today in his constituency he has constituents who are dying prematurely because of the tobacco industry.

“Yesterday, I attended a conference of 100 young people in Chester, many of them smokers. They took a vote and they asked me to tell the House tonight. Nine out of 10 of them voted to have a strict ban on vending machines. Young people are speaking up and speaking out, and two thirds of smokers argue that there should be a ban on vending machines. Why? Because vending machines are almost exclusively used by children.

Vending machines are a danger; they are a loophole. This country rightly took the decision to secure a rise from 16 to 18 years for the age that children and young adults can buy cigarettes.

“There is a reason for that: by the age of 19 more than 80 per cent. of young people who have started smoking are addicted to smoking. Yet that ban has been undermined by the industry through the use of vending machines. Children use these machines on a daily basis in disproportionately high numbers; tens of thousands of children, some as young as 10 and 11, are using vending machines, when the overwhelming majority of this country’s citizens say young people should not be able to buy cigarettes until the age of 18. Vending machines are not just a loophole; they are a death trap to the next generation of young people, who will be captured by an industry that needs them to replace the adults who it is already killing on a daily basis.

“I ask my colleagues to support the amendments. I could say much more, but other Members wish to speak so I will let later contributors add to my remarks. The evidence is overwhelming: if we do not get rid of vending machines some people will consistently undermine the 18-years-of-age ban. We know from all the professional surveys done so far that in pubs, clubs and wherever else vending machines are located, people as young as 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 can access those machines with impunity. Therefore, the only safe way of dealing with this issue is to ban vending machines once and for all, and with this ban we will take another step down the road of making Britain a smoke-free nation. With that, tens of thousands of our fellow citizens will be able to grow up, see their children and grandchildren grow up, and see their grandchildren’s children be the best they can be. If that is all we can do in this House tonight, please let us do that; let us save the next generation of children from diseases of the heart and cancers. We owe that to them; let us vote for this measure.”

Following the acceptance of the amendment Ian added:

“First, I thank the British Heart Foundation, Smoke & Mirrors, and Smokefree Northwest for the past year of non-partisan support, advice and help, as well as my colleagues in the House, and people in each Department I have spoken to. A boyhood hero of mine, Denis Law, once said of his first goal for Scotland that he scored it with his bottom or backside, or words to that effect, but it did not matter because it was a goal. We won the vote tonight nem. con., and it does not matter, because it is going to change history. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will indicate clearly in his contribution that, when the Bill reaches the Lords, there will be absolute clarity and that the amendment accepted tonight will ensure that in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, vending machines will be banned once and for all.”