Debate contribution: Tobacco and Vapes Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on 10 February 2025.

MLA

Mr Robbie Butler

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

10 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Tobacco and Vapes Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4790342

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Today's vote and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill more generally are undoubtedly the right thing to do. That is what I have written down, but, inside, I feel so much better about what is happening today than what is typed up at the top of my page. Unlike probably all the Members who have spoken so far, I have no declaration to make. I have not been a smoker at any stage in my life. I am really not saying that in a pious way. In my family, I was surrounded by smokers. My paternal granny and granda smoked. My granda on my mum's side smoked quite heavily, as did most of my aunts and uncles, and my dad smoked. I am grateful that, for reasons unknown to me, I just did not like it. I did not like the look of it. I did not think that anybody looked cool when they were doing it. I certainly did not like the smell of cigarettes, and I grew up with an individualised aversion to smoking. As a young person, I often wondered when the day would come when we would have an honest discussion on the subject. Yes, that discussion started around 20 years ago when some of the first legislation came in. If you remember, you will know that the discussion was primarily led by the health bodies outlining the impact of smoking on people. There was also the counter-lobby, which included those who had restaurants, bars and other places where people smoked while congregating and socialising and said that a ban would have a detrimental impact on them; in fact, the statistics show that it did not. The statistics also bear out the fact that we are in a better place because of the changes that were made. We see reduced hospital admissions, improved health among hospitality workers and reduced exposure to second-hand smoke. We need to return to the issue of vapes every time that we talk about tobacco. When I was 11 years old and had just started secondary school, I remember getting an Ulsterbus to school. It used to pull up outside a shop to pick us up. It was my first day, and I was in my wee school uniform. I am not tall now, but I was even smaller then. The Minister said that 23·6% of year 12s, which is fifth year — I have to convert it into old money — vape and that vaping is potentially a gateway to smoking. I remember getting on to the bus, and, no word of a lie, you could not see the back of it. The layer of smoke was down to about 2 or 3 feet off the floor, and just about everybody whom I could see who was under 16 was smoking. All right, that was 35, 36, 37 years ago, but, if we fail to look at evidence from the past, we cannot combat the wickedness of the future. In tackling vape use, we have to encourage young people not to start vaping because it smells nice, looks nice or whatever: it does not. It hurts me when I am in my own town or anywhere and see young people in school uniform doing what, they think, looks cool and probably smells OK — it smells a lot better than cigarette smoke, to be fair — but, if vaping is a gateway to smoking, we need to look at it very seriously. Many Members who have spoken have said that tobacco use is the biggest cause of cancer in Northern Ireland. Shockingly, it accounts for over 2,000 deaths here every year. My family has been impacted on. My grandfather died from a respiratory illness, and he was a regular smoker of Park Drives, a particularly harsh type of cigarette, I think. There have been instances of lung cancer in my family and in my wife's family that were almost certainly down to smoking. Lives will be saved because of this legislation. That is why today is such a good day. It has long been proven that the vast majority of people who smoke became addicted as children, and that needs to remain a focus for us. I am not so naive as to think that, of itself, legislation will stop every young person taking up smoking, but it will do enough to prevent many, and we can help in that effort. Tobacco use is a leading cause of health inequality in Northern Ireland. Everybody seemed to touch on that, and I will expand on the point a little. There are those in our communities — not just in shops — who are selling illegal, smuggled, counterfeit products, and they do so predominantly in areas of social deprivation. They are leaning on and squeezing the most vulnerable in our society. A multi-pronged approach is required, and there are other areas that we need to look at. It is a tragedy, although an avoidable one, that lung cancer incidence rates in the most deprived areas are about two and a half times those in the least deprived areas. That is why the focus needs to be on looking beyond health and even beyond the economy. There are people out there who are pushing counterfeit and illegal products into the hands of people.

I know that the Minister has a particular interest in and focus on tackling health inequalities, so the legislation is a step along that path. The previous public consultation showed that what the UK Bill and today's LCM will do has strong public support. It is greater here, in fact, than in the rest of the United Kingdom.

I bring Members' minds back to legislation that was passed in 2016 or 2017. It used to be a real bugbear of mine that, when you sat in traffic and looked at a car, you could see car seats with babies and children in the back of the car while one or two people were puffing away in the front. Thankfully, we do not see that so much now. I congratulate my party colleagues Mike Nesbitt and Robin Swann, who moved at pace and worked closely with the UK Government last February to ensure that the Bill's provisions would extend to Northern Ireland. That did not happen by accident; it was done on purpose. I fully support the motion, and I pay tribute to all the departmental staff, clinicians and community and voluntary organisations that have been so critical in getting the Bill to this point.

1,092 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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