A BAN on disposable vapes comes as more and more kids get hooked on the sweet-flavoured e-cigs.
The crackdown will also halt the scourge of plastic littering after five million vapes a week were thrown away last year — quadruple the number from 2022.
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New laws will give suppliers in England a deadline of June 1, 2025 to get rid of all disposables stock.
The Government expects devolved nations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to implement the same cut-off date.
But refillable vapes will remain available since doctors use them to help people quit smoking.
The move follows mounting fears that more kids are illegally buying disposables, many of which now come in bright packaging with flavours including bubblegum, candy floss and cola.
Ministers also want to stop users trashing the environment with the throwaway devices.
More than 40 tonnes of lithium, used in the batteries, was thrown out with disposable vapes in the UK in 2022 — enough to power 5,000 electric cars.
PM Sir Keir Starmer is braced for further accusations of “nanny state” interference following a slew of measures, including the proposed outdoor smoking ban.
Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: “It’s deeply worrying that a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds used a vape last year.
“We know disposables are the product of choice for the majority of kids vaping today. Banning them will keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people.”
Environment Minister Mary Creagh added: “Single-use vapes waste precious resources and blight our towns, parks and cities.
“That is why we will be banning single-use vapes as we take action to end our throwaway culture.”
A disposable vape sells for £3-£10 depending on the brand, with the total e-cig industry worth an estimated £2.8billion in Britain.
Former PM Rishi Sunak initially announced plans to ban disposable vapes this January.
He acted over evidence showing the number of children using them had tripled in three years.
Those taking up the habit across all age groups has ballooned by more than 400 per cent since 2012.
While supportive of Mr Sunak’s plan at the time, Labour did not include a proposed ban in its election manifesto.
‘Nanny state’
The party has been considering whether to press ahead with one since July’s landslide win.
Sir Keir said this week he was prepared to be “nanny state” if he thought it would save lives.
In August The Sun reported his government was considering a ban on smoking in outdoor areas, including pub gardens.
That comes as part of a wider smoking ban that will stop anyone born after January 2009 ever legally buying cigarettes.
Sir Keir has said the clampdown “will be transformational in terms of what is still one of the biggest killers in our country”.
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Sweet or bitter blow?
YES
Says Grace Macaskill, Sun writer and mother of two
THE minute pupils leave my son’s school at 3.30pm many reach into pockets for a vape.
They are gasping for a hit of nicotine after being targeted by firms marketing flavours such as bubblegum, grape and candy.
Many headteachers here in East Yorkshire have banned toilet time in lessons to stop kids sneaking off for a toke.
One has even gated off the loos.
Statistics show 20 per cent of kids tried a vape last year, up from 14 per cent in 2020.
They might not be as dangerous as cigarettes but still contain nicotine and toxins.
A ban on disposables is good for parents’ peace of mind.
The habit becomes more costly and out of reach of most kids’ pocket money.
Now let’s raise the price of refillables.
NO
Says Alex Bellotti, Sun writer and vaper
THIS ban is a disastrous and typically short-sighted move from the nanny state.
When my smoking spiralled out of control in lockdown, disposable vapes were a godsend.
They don’t leave that shameful stench of tobacco clinging to your clothes, or even send out plumes the size of steam engines like regular e-cigs.
In 2011, there were 77.1million cigarettes a day smoked in England.
This year it is 45.5million.
Spoiler alert . . . it’s not down to nicotine gum.
My main gripe with the ban is that no casual vaper wants to fiddle with clunky e-cigs.
Instead, they’ll just reach for the next most convenient product: a pack of 20 fags.
Isn’t that what we should be phasing out?
