Can Britons Learn To Love The Idea Of The 'Nanny State'?

Despite detractors, Rishi Sunak’s tobacco bill shows the public will support policies that would once have been thought draconian

- Heather Stewart

Smoking, smacking, smartphones for kids: never mind the “nanny state ”, today’s national debate seems crowded with demands for decisive action from politicians to save us – or our children – from ourselves.

Rishi Sunak’s ban on selling cigarettes to under-15s forever once they come of age is supported by 59% of the public, according to one recent poll.

He has been unabashed about defending the tough policy, despite some of his more libertarian colleagues claiming it is an infringement on personal freedom, and one, Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher, fretting that “nanny states do not raise warriors”.

Meanwhile, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, whose MPs backed the tobacco bill in the House of Commons last week, previously embraced the term “nanny state ” when confronting objections to Labour’s policy of supervised tooth-brushing for children.

“The moment you do anything on child health, people say ‘ You’re going down the road of the nanny state.’ We want to have that fight,” Starmer said earlier this year.

Polling of parents concerned about the impact of smartphone use on children’s mental health suggests almost 60% support a ban for under-16s.

Meanwhile, leading doctors banded together last week to urge the government to ban smacking children in England and Northern Ireland.

Prof John Coggon, of Bristol University, who specialises in public health law, says policies aimed at children are not really the “nanny state ”. Instead, the phrase refers to measures to protect adults – whether they like it or not.