Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has said a “great debate” in the House of Commons is on the cards amid criticism of the Prime Minister’s plans to ban disposable vapes.
She told GB News: “First and foremost, this is a long-term decision, a really bold long-term decision for a brighter future.
“…this is an ambitious and bold move by this Government to ensure the future, the future health of our children, not just in the next few years, but in the decades to come.”
In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, she continued: “And by the way, just to put it into context in the short time that you and I have been in this interview, a couple of more people will have been admitted to a NHS hospital with a smoking related disease, because every minute of every single day, a person is admitted to hospital for those reasons.
“But on the wider issue of the Kremlinology, if you like, of how we how this bill is taken through the house, bills relating to smoking have always been matters of conscience and the Prime Minister, quite rightly, is honouring that.
“I do think we're going to see a great debate in the House. It's right that we debate these things, but we will I suspect we'll see Members of Parliament wanting to represent their constituents and the concerns of their constituents when it comes to smoking and vaping.”
On the deaths of three US soldiers in a drone attack in Jordan, she said: “We will of course watch this with great concern and attention. But we also call actually on the Iranian-backed rebels and others who are conducting these attacks, we call on them to de-escalate because this cannot be allowed to continue.”
