MPs voted overwhelmingly last night (February 10) to make it illegal for anyone in England to smoke in a car in which children are travelling, although it may be some time before the new law is introduced.
The MPs voted 376 to 107, a majority of 269, in favour of the new law, although the issue split the Government, with Home Secretary Theresa May voting against the proposal alongside Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Ministers also voted to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to under-18s, to outlaw the so-called proxy buying of cigarettes by adults on behalf of minors and to allow the Government to introduce plain packaging on tobacco products.
The vote also gave the Government the power to bring in a ban in Wales and Welsh ministers must now decided whether they want to follow suit and make it illegal to smoke while travelling with children in the car.
Campaigners for the ban were delighted at the outcome, calling the vote “a great victory for child health”. However, Shadow Public Health Minister Luciana Berger warned ministers not to kick the measure into the long grass and the Labour party, which introduced the amendment, has said that if the measure does not become law before the next election, it will be included in its manifesto.
Opponents of the move were less happy with the vote, however, with a spokesman for smokers’ lobby group Forest calling it “a line the state shouldn’t cross when it comes to dictating how people behave in private places”.