Contributions
1,317 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)These are matters for trading standards. Trading standards is the enforcement authority. If people have a concern today about a retailer in their area that is potentially selling…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)indicated assent.09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)This is becoming a question and answer session—it is all slightly like an evidence session. That is a decision for future Governments; it is not what we intend in this Bill, which…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)A simple question: whose civil liberties are we refusing?09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)The hon. Lady makes an important point. This is not speculation; we have seen it in action. In the period immediately after the indoor smoking ban, for example, the levels of…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Amendment 68 would create a more lenient penalty regime for the offence of selling vaping or nicotine products to someone under age in Scotland. It would establish that someone…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)We are in the bizarre situation where the shadow Minister has gone from wanting to water down the penalties to now wanting to make them higher, in line with Northern Ireland. We…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)I understand the hon. Member’s argument, but it does not hold water. There is no safe level of smoking. That is the fundamental issue. People can drink or gamble responsibly. We…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)We believe that a bong is a tobacco product, because the only reason shops are able to treat bongs as not being drugs paraphernalia and therefore to sell them is for the…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Mr Dowd, I think that is very sensible. Certainly, in other Bill Committees that I have been on in the near two decades that I have been here, I have seen Ministers be cut off at…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Because we do not need to. The measures in the Bill cover these bongs. For example, although it is not a direct tobacco product, clause 45 gives Ministers the power to cover…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I am also grateful to the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, for bringing this discussion…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)I am grateful to the hon. Lady for putting that question, because proportionality is key here to how trading standards will approach the fines regime. The reality, however, is…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)We have heard very clearly from trading standards. The current practice is that trading standards officers across the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, which have…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)The fact is that the primary consumption of tobacco in this country is through cigarettes. Tobacco is not a safe product. There is no safe level of tobacco use. The hon. Member…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Third sitting)I can hear you.09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)With rights come responsibilities. People have the responsibility both to look after themselves and to not be overly burdensome on the state. We know that the cost of tobacco is…09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Fourth sitting)Because that is what Northern Ireland has decided.09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Third sitting)Will the Minister give way?09 Jan 2025HANSARDTobacco and Vapes Bill (Third sitting)The shadow Minister is having a good morning, having not had a particularly great evening last night. With no disrespect to the hon. Member for Windsor, who made this point in his…09 Jan 2025