Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he has voted against the government’s smoking legislation, describing it as ‘a foolish and ill-timed bill’.
Sir Jacob, who described the bill as ‘absurd’ said the government should instead be pursuing conservative policies to win back voters who have switched away from the party.
Speaking on GB News, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “Is there no sense of purpose or urgency in Downing Street? Politically, the guns are ranged against as we trail Labour by over 20 per cent in the opinion polls.
“Nearly a quarter of Tory voters from 2019 have left for Reform. Internationally, the world looks as dangerous as it has in decades, facing complex challenges in the Middle East and Ukraine.
“Domestically, tax is at record levels, the economy is sluggish and unemployment is rising.
“Immigration is out of control and the small boats continue to come across the channel.
“Net zero is making people cold and poor, while our electricity costs two and a half times that of the United States.
“Against this background of urgent and pressing problems, what does the government decide to devote its efforts to? The picayune issue of smoking.
“This lack of sense of proportion is one of the reasons I voted against the government today.
“However, the bill itself is ill thought through and essentially absurd. It aims to increase the legal age of smoking by one year every year until no one will be able to smoke.
“In effect, anyone born after 2008 will never be able to buy cigarettes.
“Picture it now: in the year of our Lord, 2088, a seventy nine-year-old man hobbles in on his Zimmer frame to try and buy some cigarettes.
"He’s asked for his identity for the fifth time that week. And outside of an off license, he lingers instead, to see if somebody coming by in his scooter, aged 80 will buy him an illicit pack of Marlboro lights.
“This is the Britain a Tory government is paving the way for. It’s absurd, it’s ridiculous. In my own family my 16 year-old son and 15 year-old daughter will be able to trade cigarettes to their younger siblings, on a modest commission.
“None of this means that smoking is not bad for you, merely this is a foolish and ill-timed bill.
“The government has failed to tackle illegal drugs which are available easily across society. Even the leader of the opposition would not deny taking them as a student.
“This bill would make it easier for under 18s to buy illegal drugs than to buy cigarettes, which cannot be proportionate.
“We cannot police the drugs that are illegal, so instead of solving that problem, we merely make a less immediately dangerous addiction illegal too?
“If I had to choose between my children consuming cigarettes or cannabis, I would unquestionably and unhesitatingly choose cigarettes.
“They may have long-term health consequences, they do have long term health consequences, but they won’t lead to behavioural or mood changes and potentially serious mental illness.
“The Conservative Party unquestionably has a mountain to climb. If we want to overturn the Labour lead in the opinion polls, we need to start pursuing conservative policies and show a sense of proportion.
“How many voters will switch back to the Tories because of this complex and impractical ban, aggressively pushed by the people who gave us endless lockdowns?”
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