Experts warn vape ban won't work as they issue price rise warning
Cherry Cola, Pink Lemonade and Banana Ice - these may sound like sugary drinks or sweets aimed at children and teenagers but they are in fact disposable vapes containing dangerous chemicals and nicotine. Currently available in all colours of the rainbow and every fruity flavour you can imagine, some say it's no surprise they appeal to children and teenagers.
To try and dampen their appeal to under-18s, the Government is introducing a new tax on vapes in the Budget. Currently, vaping products are subject to VAT but not an additional levy as is the case with tobacco which makes them cheaper for younger people to purchase.
The government first said it was considering a vaping levy at November's King's Speech, citing a "significant differential" with tobacco tax. The new duty is expected be levied on the liquid in vapes, with higher tax rates for products with more nicotine.
This follows news in January that disposable vapes are being banned in the UK in a dramatic bid to stop youngsters from becoming hooked on electronic cigarettes. This will probably come into force by early next year.
The government is set to ban disposable vapes as part of plans to tackle the rising number of young people taking up vaping. (PA)Ministers will also get new powers to crack down on the variety of vape flavours for sale, restrict colourful packaging and the way vapes are displayed in shops so they don’t appeal to children. In the UK, it’s already illegal to sell vapes to under 18s so what difference will an outright ban make?
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While it may already be illegal for under 18s to buy vapes in the UK, current laws are doing nothing to stop one in five teenagers from trying them. Countries like Norway, Mexico and New Zealand have already brought in tough new laws to try and tackle underage vaping.
Lawyer Tautvydas Sutkus said these countries have taken very different approaches and it’s not yet clear which way the UK will steer. “Singapore's comprehensive prohibition against e-cigarettes underscores a zero-tolerance policy towards nicotine addiction and its associated health risks," he explains. "On the other hand, New Zealand presents an intriguing counter-narrative, embracing vaping as a lesser evil compared to smoking.
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"Their regulatory framework is designed to deter smoking by offering vaping as a less harmful alternative, carefully balancing public health goals with harm reduction strategies. This nuanced approach includes restrictions on advertising and flavours meant to appeal to young people, demonstrating a sophisticated strategy to navigate the vaping issue.”
Mr Sutkus believes while bans may initially lead to a resurgence in cigarette smoking, Singapore’s strict ban on e-cigarettes, has not led to an increase in smoking. However, people will of course turn to the black market, or other means, to get their fix.
Currently, trading standards officers can issue an ‘on the spot’ fine of up to £100 when they spot the sale of tobacco and vapes to children in England and Wales. David Skopinski from told The Mirror he would prefer the police to crackdown harder on retailers who continue to sell to underage kids, with stronger powers to close them down.
There are concerns a disposable vaping ban could lead to increased smoking rates (Getty Images)“Our concern is that hopefully this ban does not fuel the black market for such devices, meaning more unregulated and unsafe products being available to minors and adults alike,” he said. Smoking cessation expert Mike Cameron smoked 40 cigarettes a day for 15 years before using e-cigarettes to kick the habit for good.
Mike, who has founded his own e-cig company SMOKO, said he fears a total ban on disposable vaping products takes away a safer choice from millions of adult smokers. “It's unlikely that all countries would deal with disposable vapes in the same way, with some imposing hardline zero-tolerance policies and others simply bolstering already in-place restrictions,” he said. “However, this could result in ambiguity, especially when travelling abroad.
“Unlike smoking, which is widely discouraged or outright banned in most public places around the globe, the legality of vaping, especially in different contexts, is more equivocal. With disposable vapes potentially being taken off the market, another type of product could feasibly fill the gap in the market left by the vaping industry.”
The IEA’s Head of Lifestyle Economics Chris Snowdon, who wrote a , says an outright ban won't stamp out the problem as people still buy disposable vapes on the black market in countries like Australia. “In Australia, where vapes containing nicotine have always been banned, and imports and zero-nicotine vapes have since been banned, e-cigarettes are openly sold in convenience stores across the country.
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"I was recently in Panama where all e-cigarettes are banned but disposable vapes were being openly sold on street corners.” And it appears that Australia’s strict ban on disposable vapes doesn’t seem to be working. Down under, there has been no decline in the overall smoking rate since 2018 and the number of 14-17 year olds who smoke has risen from 2 per cent to 13 per cent.
“Vapes and tobacco are smuggled into Australia in industrial quantities,” Chris said. “Shops then sell them under or over the counter, sometimes under pressure from criminal gangs. If banned in the UK, the market for disposables will become entirely illicit. Nobody knows how many consumers will switch to refillable vapes, go back to smoking or buy illegal vapes, but there will clearly be a considerable market for illicit disposables (2.6 million adults currently use them).”
Dan Marchant, Director and Co-Founder of the UK's largest online vaping retailer, Vape Club adds that there is already a problem with illegal vapes being sold on the black market in the UK. "The lack of enforcement in the UK has helped the vape black market replace the cigarette black market," he explains. "In 2022, the number of illegal vapes seized overtook the number of illegal cigarette packs. This trend continued in 2023 with over 1.57 million illegal vapes seized – over double the illegal cigarette packs seized in the same year.
"The government has enacted and enforced legislation against the illegal cigarette trade, but has neglected to implement similar measures for the illegal vape market. This oversight is alarming and damaging to the public confidence in a smoking cessation device that approximately doubles a smoker’s chance to quit.
"Consequently, the unregulated illegal vape trade mirrors the issues prevalent in the cigarette black market, including youth usage, potentially dangerous products, and unregulated retail sales. Therefore the enforcement and penalties for the illegal vape trade should be as strong as the illegal cigarette trade. I had a meeting with a leading Australian figure a few months ago on some of the lessons around the vaping industry in Australia, how we can look at what is being done there and whether there are any lessons that we can share with each other.
"We should not be vilifying the products, but we should be vilifying the unscrupulous retailers who are knowingly selling them to children to curb what’s being described as a vaping epidemic. We need to impose huge penalties and ensure that there is a countrywide clampdown on age verification. If they cannot get the products they cannot use the products. That’s how we operate with cigarettes and that’s how we should operate with vaping".
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