The government’s plan to ban disposable vapes by next summer has already been trashed by free-market wonks and industry insiders, the prevailing argument – one the NHS touts – being that many smokers turn to disposable vapes to cut back on cigarettes as a safer option. Now the government’s own impact assessment has admitted that the ban will lead to more people lighting up…
According to the report, “29% of current [vapers] will either revert/re-lapse to smoking tobacco” leading to a rise in “the sale of tobacco goods” with the ban ultimately likely to have “health disbenefits.” On top of that, there’s more for the taxpayer to inhale: the policy would burn through £8.6 million in lost landfill tax and add £2.2 million in extra Trading Standards inspections. Small businesses, meanwhile, look to get singed to the tune of £11.3 million over the next decade. Another nanny state policy that’s set to go up in flames…
Lord Khan in the Telegraph: “I hope, and I say this in a non-pompous way, that the public service I do will bring rewards in this world and the hereafter,” he says. “I’m hoping the work I do is earning me Brownie points.”