Majority support alternatives to generational tobacco ban: survey
October 28, 2025
Photo: iStock
Public opinion is divided on the government’s generational tobacco ban, according to a series of polls commissioned by the smokers’ rights group Forest.
Surveys of over 2,000 adults found that, given a choice, a majority (58%) support alternatives to a generational ban.
A quarter (25%) would keep the legal age of sale at 18, while a third (33%) would raise it from 18 to 21. Only 35 per cent support raising the age of sale by one year every year until no adult can legally buy tobacco.
In a separate poll, three out of five adults (59%) said that when people are legally an adult at 18 they should be permitted to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products. Fewer than a third (29%) said they should not.
The public is more evenly divided on whether policies to reduce smoking rates have gone far enough. Almost half (49%) believe they have gone too far (11%) or far enough (38%), while 40% think they have not gone far enough.
A majority (56%) believe the impact of existing tobacco control policies should be independently reviewed before further measures are introduced. Only 15 per cent disagree.
Urging peers to amend the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which entered the committee stage in the House of Lords on Monday (27 October), Simon Clark, director of Forest, said: “The generational ban is an absurd policy that will drive more smokers to the black market and into the hands of criminal gangs.
“Public opinion is clearly divided, so we urge peers to oppose the ban and support a fairer, more pragmatic, policy that respects freedom of choice and doesn’t treat future generations of adults like children.”
