When will smoking ban take effect in UK?

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Euan Stainbank, chairman of the Responsible Vaping All-Party Parliamentary Group, told LBC he is "incredibly happy that a smoke-free generation is coming," even if he has concerns about the potential curbing of access to vapes.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is set to receive royal assent imminently after being approved by Parliament, to see it become law in the UK.

It will prevent those who were born on January 1, 2009, or later from ever being allowed to buy cigarettes, even after they turn 18.

The bill will also give the government powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging, which has caused the Responsible Vaping All-Party Parliamentary Group to take notice.

Politicians have expressed concern previously about colourful packaging and sweet flavours of vapes leading to youngsters getting hooked on nicotine, having never smoked tobacco.

Mr Stainbank, a former smoker, has warned for caution with further regulation on vaping, saying that e-cigarettes helped him quit.

"What I feel is important is whether we can handle the secondary legislation concerning flavours and packaging of vapes," he said. "Vapes are very effective in getting people to stay off smoking."

Here is what you need to know about the bill.

What is royal assent?

Once a bill has completed all the parliamentary stages in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, it is ready to receive royal assent, where the King signs off on the bill to make it a law.

It is the final part of the process by which a bill becomes a law and it is considered undemocratic for a monarch to oppose it.

UK Parliament has said: "While the Monarch has the right to refuse Royal Assent, nowadays this does not happen; the last such occasion was in 1708, and Royal Assent is regarded today as a formality."

When will the ban take effect?

The ban will take effect when those currently 17 turn 18 next year. Anyone born in 2009 will turn 18 in 2027 but will be unable to buy cigarettes. Those who turn 18 in 2026 will be able to.

What have people said about the bill?

The bill was passed with broad support from Labour MPs.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch had previously defied her former leader Rishi Sunak in voting against it.

Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage, who is himself a smoker, called the laws "pious grandstanding that is masquerading as legislation" and said he would repeal them if elected.

"There are other far more effective and civilised ways to ensure that young people do not take up vaping and smoking, and so protect their health for decades to come," he said.

Dr Ian Walker of Cancer Research UK, however, told LBC: "The scale of what this could achieve is enormous.

"Millions of children growing up in the UK will never be legally sold cigarettes in this country. That’s a generation of young lives shielded from the grip of a deadly, costly addiction – and many more to follow.

"The impact of this will ripple beyond the individual - it'll also ease the enormous and avoidable strain smoking places on our health system."

This will be the case for as long as those born in 2009, and later, are alive and will mean they cannot buy tobacco even when they are in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and older.

Other feedback has been more nuanced, and Mr Stainbank said his parliamentary group has been a "critical friend" of the bill, as he is concerned that restrictions on flavours and advertising may lead to fewer smokers switching to vaping.

“We support much of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, but we also know that consumer choice and awareness underpin a successful vaping experience," he added.

“Using vapes has been estimated by UK experts to be 95% safer than using cigarettes, and adult smokers who switch to vaping are twice as likely to stop smoking as those using nicotine patches.

"My own experience was certainly that vaping helped me tremendously on my journey to quit smoking for good.”