IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon has written for Spiked criticising the government’s generational ban on tobacco after Health Secretary Victoria Atkins claimed that Winston Churchill would have supported the measure.

Christopher wrote:

“After spending 14 years achieving so little, this Tory government is using its last few months in office rushing through a policy borrowed from the New Zealand Labour Party, one which the British Labour Party would otherwise push through parliament when it wins the next election. It all seems perverse. The ban will not have any effect until 2027 so there is no need for haste, but it is in keeping with the Tories’ longstanding approach of owning the lefties by introducing Labour policies before Labour gets the chance to do so itself.

“As the consequences of this ridiculous anti-smoking ruse unravel in the years ahead, the generational tobacco ban and the senseless war on vapers will be a fitting epitaph to this shabby, authoritarian and unprincipled government.”

Read Christopher’s full piece here.

Christopher also criticised the ban in The Critic.

You can read Christopher’s recent papers criticising both the generational tobacco ban and new plans to crack down on e-cigarette sales.