A prominent lawyer has joined the chorus of voices pointing out that banning smoking will violate the terms of the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland. There has been some consternation over there thanks to Streeting’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill. EU law continues to apply in certain areas in NI, notably the bloc’s Tobacco Products Directive…
Under that directive, known as TPD2, “member States may not… prohibit or restrict the placing on the market of tobacco or related products which comply with this Directive.” The Irish government has too admitted it “cannot pursue a ‘smokefree generation’ policy as has been suggested in other jurisdictions due to the EU’s Single Market rules and Tobacco Products Directive.” Now the government’s former Brexit lawyer and prominent EU law specialist Jason Coppel KC has weighed in…
Coppel, who was part of the government’s legal team in the Gina Miller Article 50 case and recently defended Katharine Birbalsingh’s Michaela in its Muslim prayers row, says in a legal opinion for analytics firm Lexis Nexis that Labour is breaking the terms of the Brexit deal with its new smoking bill:
“It is equivalent in effect to an absolute ban on the sale of tobacco products, but a ban which is introduced very slowly, with an extent which increases day by day. If that analysis is correct then cl 68-69 of the Bill, if enacted, would likely contravene TPD2 regardless of whether they can be established by the Government to be a proportionate restriction in the interests of public health.”
This is why Denmark and Ireland have given up on generational smoking bans. Coppel also raises the possibility that Streeting’s bill could violate the ECHR’s Article 8 (right to respect for private life) and its Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions). Labour has so far refused to publicly comment on the potential violation in Northern Ireland – safe to say it is pinging around the Attorney General’s office…
Read Coppel’s full short legal opinion below:
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