MPs back plans for phased smoking ban

Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Helen Morgan, who voted for the bill, said her party was “100% supportive” of measures to tackle youth vaping in the legislation.

However, she said a phased smoking ban was “problematic” and “raises issues of practicality” and “civil liberties”.

She warned it raised the prospect that people who chose to start smoking would potentially have to carry an ID card for the rest of their lives, something she “strongly opposed” due to “issues of privacy and personal liberty”.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell argued “banning things very rarely works”, adding: “Surely we should be promoting the concept of freedom with responsibility and allowing people to make choices about their own lives?”

Defending the plans, Streeting said tobacco was “uniquely addictive” and harmful.

“There is no freedom in addiction,” he told MPs.