The UK government has published our consultation “Tobacco and Vapes: packaging, appearance and display”, on behalf of all four nations of the UK. A copy will be deposited in the Libraries of the House.
People deserve to live in a fairer UK, where everyone lives well for longer. The 10-Year Health Plan for England sets out our ambitious plans to shift the dial from sickness to prevention. As part of this, we are committed to creating a smoke-free UK and protecting future generations from the harms of tobacco and risks of nicotine addiction. This consultation is the next step in delivering our commitments.
Tobacco is a uniquely harmful product and there is no safe level of consumption. Smoking remains the single biggest preventable cause of ill health, disability and death in England and costs the country £21.3 billion per year. While vaping is less harmful than tobacco products and can be an effective way for adult smokers to quit, they are not risk-free. The long-term health impacts of these products remains unknown. For these reasons, the government’s advice is clear: children, and adult non-smokers should never vape. It is therefore deeply concerning that, as of 2025, around 20% of 11–17-year-olds, over 1 million children, had tried vaping.
Evidence suggests that vapes appeal to children for many reasons, including packaging, product appearance, flavours and being easy to access. There are also growing concerns about the appeal of nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches, to children, and the increasing awareness and use among young people.
The Tobacco and Vapes Act, which became law on 29 April 2026, delivers on our core manifesto commitment. From 1 January 2027, our landmark Smoke-free Generation policy will come into effect, protecting anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 from the harms of tobacco. On 1 June 2027, we intend to bring a comprehensive advertising and sponsorship ban for vapes and nicotine products into effect. Earlier this year, we consulted on proposals to extend smoke-free restrictions to certain outdoor places and introduce vape-free and heated tobacco-free places (on which we are currently considering responses).
Alongside the Act, the Government has taken further action, on 1 June 2025 we banned the sale and supply of single use vapes, and at the Autumn Budget 2024, the Government confirmed the introduction of a new Vaping Products Duty from 1 October 2026, accompanied by a one-off increase in tobacco duty.
The forthcoming consultation is the next step in this programme of work. It proposes ways in which the packaging, flavour descriptors, device appearance and retail display of vaping and nicotine products can be restricted to reduce their appeal and availability to young people whilst still allowing vapes to be effective quit aids for adult smokers.
Specifically, the consultation proposes that vaping and nicotine products should be in plain white packaging with limited imagery and branding, and that the colour of vape devices should be restricted to only white, black or grey, to reduce their appeal to children. It also proposes to restrict flavour descriptors to a single, recognised flavour (for example, ‘Apple’) and restrict the use of names which appeal to children, such as references to confectionary, desserts or alcohol.
Additionally, the consultation seeks views on introducing new regulations to align existing tobacco packaging requirements across all tobacco products, herbal smoking products and cigarette papers, as well as on restricting the appearance of heated tobacco devices. It also proposes aligning retail display restrictions across these products and removing the bulk tobacconist retail display exemption, to ensure a consistent approach to reducing visibility of tobacco products. Under these proposals, the display of tobacco products in bulk tobacconists, including duty-free areas, would now be more restricted.
We are seeking view from a wide range of stakeholders, including:
members of the publichealth organisationsindustryretailerslocal authoritiesThe consultation will be open for a total of 12 weeks and will close on 2 October 2026. We are publishing draft Impact Assessments alongside this consultation. Responses will be critical in informing what final decisions are taken with regards to the future regulation of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products. These final decisions will be outlined in a response, which we will publish once analysis of responses to the consultation is complete.
The proposals in this consultation relate to all four nations of the UK. We hope that many people will take the time to respond to the consultation. I will provide an update to the House on the response to the consultation in due course.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2026-07-13.hcws215.0
seen at 10:24, 14 July in Written Ministerial Statements.