I am not someone who likes to ban things.
I take the view that choice is important and banning stuff often has unintended consequences that can be harmful in other ways.
However, there are always exceptions and one of them is the proposed new law to stop anyone aged 14 or younger from ever legally buying cigarettes. I support the Prime Minister in his plan.
It means my two daughters will not be able to legally smoke and measures are being taken to prevent young people vaping too.
Hand on heart, I think this is good.
Smoking kills people early or ruins their quality of life – that is a fact. It costs the UK taxpayer billions to treat those who fall ill because of it and a smoke free world for future generations is a good future. It does not ban smoking for anyone else but it would, in effect, raise the legal age for buying cigarettes in England by one year every year, until it applies to the whole population.
It is quite bold of the PM. He is however used to taking difficult and unpopular decisions in the face of noisy shouting though.
Those who say this is an attack on people's freedom to choose, of course, have a point but it is the job of the government to weigh up those rights with improving public health.
I would like to see similar intervention to tackle childhood obesity, although I accept this is much trickier. As the PM said, junk food can be eaten in moderation as part of a balanced diet. Cigarettes and vapes can be given up. Food will always be important to all of our lives.
But the facts here are chilling too. According to the National Child Measurement Programme 10.1% of reception age children were obese in 2021/22, with a further 12.1% overweight. At age 10-11, 23.4% were obese and 14.3% overweight.
There is mixed evidence about what works and whether government intervention actually penalises the people they want to help. Yet given what we know about how poor diet and obesity negatively affects childhood outcomes, I will keep making the case. I do not mind being unpopular where necessary, as you all know.
Siobhan Baillie's weekly column in the SNJ and Gazette | Stroud News and Journal
