'Ban on vapes could end up killing more'

PLANS to end smoking are "unworkable" while a ban on disposable vapes this summer will set back progress to save lives, a think tank claims.

- David Williamson

The Adam Smith Institute says "19 million years of life" could be saved by 2030 if people can use safer alternatives to cigarettes and this would save the taxpayer £12.6billion every year.

It said the ban on disposable vapes will stop smokers finding a "quitting aid that works for them".

The Government wants to phase out smoking by banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after January 2009. Single-use vapes will be illegal from June.

But the ASI says progress on reducing smoking is already "one of the great public health successes of the past decade".