Labour has ramped up its war on smokers and vapers today after the Chancellor announced tobacco tax hikes as part of her first Budget.
Rachel Reeves has declared that duty on rolling tobacco is set to increase by 10 per cent in the coming year, while tobacco duty itself will also increase that will see cigarettes jump in price.
According to Treasury figures smokers can expect to pay 54p more for a packet of 20 cigarettes, while 30g of rolling tobacco will have an extra £2.32 added to the price.
There will also be a 27p jump per 10g of cigars, a 35p rise for 30g of pipe tobacco and a price increase of 13p for a 6g pack of heating tobacco – a move that will be a bitter pill to swallow for smokers.
The new government is also set to target the pockets of vapers by introducing a new flat rate duty on all e-cigarette liquid from October 2026.
This new levy could see the price of a £4 bottle of e-liquid surge to £5.40, with the amount it goes up by depending on the nicotine content.
Labour is already set to ban disposable vapes next year, blaming the environmental impact of single-use e-cigarettes, while it will stick with plans by the previous Conservative government to ban cigarettes for everyone born after 2008.
Analysts have said the latest measures will raise hundreds of millions of pounds for the public coffers, but industry experts have warned that it could push people back to cigarettes.
It comes as Ms Reeves announced a £40billion tax bomb, dubbed by critics as ‘the biggest heist in modern political history’, as she puts her stamp on public finances.
The Chancellor unveiled a £25billion National Insurance Contributions hike targeted at employers, as well as raids on inheritance and capital gains.
And there was no escape for smokers and vapers from her gaze, with the Chancellor revealing hikes for both tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Ms Reeves told the House of Commons this afternoon: ‘The government will renew the Tobacco Duty escalator for the remainder of this Parliament at RPI+2 per cent, increase duty by a further 10 per cent on hand-rolling tobacco this year, introduce a flat rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026 alongside an additional one-off increase in tobacco duty to maintain the incentive to give up smoking.
‘And we will increase the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to account for inflation since it was introduced, as well as increasing the duty in line with CPI each year going forward. These measures will raise nearly £1bn per year by the end of the forecast period.’
The new vaping levy follows a previous pledge by the Conservative government to do so, with the latest increases coming into effect from April 2025 ahead of a planned ban of single-use disposable e-cigarettes next June.
It will introduce a toll of £1-3 per 10ml vape liquid, increasing depending on nicotine levels. Experts warned it would see the average UK vaper spending almost £73 a year on the habit, with the cost of a £4 e-liquid bottle swelling to £5.40.
Analysts say the measures will raise around £120million in 2026/27, increasing to £445million by 2028/29, according to charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
British American Tobacco, which sells cigarettes, tobacco products and vapes, welcomed the move to implement the flat duty on e-liquids.
Asli Ertonguc, Head of BAT UK & Western Europe, told MailOnline: ‘We have long supported the introduction of a low excise on e-liquids that enables improved oversight, administration, and enforcement of the e-cigarette supply chain in the UK. The decision to move to a flat rate levy is welcomed as it will allow for easier administration and aid excise collection.
‘However, we strongly encourage the Government to implement a vape excise in 2025 rather than October 2026 to tackle the illicit market that is already prolific in the UK.’
However, some industry chiefs fear the boom in price that will come from the imposition of flat duty could drive people back to smoking traditional cigarettes.
E-cigarette retailer VPZ criticised the decision to implement a flat duty, saying it would harm people’s efforts to quit smoking.
Greig Fowler, director at VPZ, said: ‘Vaping is the most effective way for people to quit smoking and continues to transform the health and financial wellbeing of smokers throughout the country.
‘Further increasing taxes on vaping will directly penalise and make products prohibitive for the most vulnerable in society at a time when many are doing their best to make positive life choices.
‘The idea of raising tobacco duty to encourage more smokers to switch, whilst at the same time introducing a punitive vaping tax, is fundamentally flawed and will only punish people looking to quit smoking.
‘There is a genuine fear that any move in this direction will further fuel the illicit black market and act as a deterrent for people looking to quit, which will hugely damage the progress we have made in reaching the UK’s 2030 Smoke Free ambitions.
‘Rather than increasing taxation, the Government needs to take on board our recommendations and implement a licencing scheme where there are proper enforcement and policing in place to tackle youth uptake and the existing black market,’ he added.
It comes as furious vapers last week blasted Labour’s plan to ban the disposable e-cigarettes, branding the crackdown ‘absolute claptrap’.
One man called Jamie told MailOnline said: ‘I don’t think they should do it. They help people with mental health and stress.
‘I have a hell of a lot of stress to deal with and it’s helping me a massive amount.’
The 30-year-old, who is unemployed, confessed he continues to both smoke and vape, adding: ‘It just calms me down. It de-stresses me – within a minute I am calm. As soon as I put my vape in my mouth I am instantly calm.
‘If I didn’t have it, it would make me a hell of a lot more c*****r than I am now. People who vape tend to get a lot more stressed and anxious.’
He explained that if he didn’t have access to a disposable vape, he would use a refillable one or turn to cigarettes.
When asked what he thought of reducing the disposable vapes and single use plastics to help the environment he quipped: ‘They’re talking absolute claptrap.’
Susan Baker, 50, said: ‘I think they should ban cigarettes if anything because vapes haven’t been proven to be that bad for you.
‘Since I have vaped, my stress and things are not as bad as it was when I was heavy smoking. I think they should ban cigarettes.
She added: ‘I used to wheeze at night but I don’t wheeze now. I have had my doctor say they are better for you than cigarettes.
‘I think its too strict. I know there are a lot of young people who think its a trend but I think they [the government] should think of the older generation.
‘I understand the issue with the plastic but surely they could come up with something more else. The first vape I had was metal.’
When asked if she felt bad about using a disposable vape, Ms Baker said: ‘No, mine is refillable as well so I don’t have to keep throwing it away.’
Meanwhile, industry experts have warned that a blanket ban on the devices would be ‘absolute disaster’ that could pave the way for the illicit trade of e-cigarettes.
Vape usage in England has skyrocketed by more than 400 per cent between 2012 and 2023, with 9.1 per cent of the British public now buying and using them, according to Defra.
As part of Labour’s war on vapes and cigarettes, it has already outlined ambitions to crackdown on the number of young people smoking or vaping, by bringing in new rules as part of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
The laws will gradually ban smoking for younger generations entirely, with nobody born before January 1, 2009, ever legally able to be sold cigarettes.
The Bill will also give the Government fresh powers to regulate flavours, packaging and displays of vape products to make them less appealing to children.
The new tax on vapes and increase in tobacco duty are separate from this legislation but similarly seek to it harder for children to buy nicotine products.
The devices, which are often colourfully packaged and come in candy-like flavours, are sold in places like sweet shops for ‘pocket money prices’.
Initially touted as a ‘safer’ alternative to tobacco, public health experts have become increasingly concerned that youngsters who have never smoked are using them.
From June next year, the sale of disposable single-use vapes will be outlawed across England and Wales.
It comes amid worrying figures from the NHS which showed around a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds in England have tried vaping, with one-in-10 now regular users.
But vapers this week defended the devices as they rounded on Sir Keir Starmer‘s party.
The Bill will also give the Government fresh powers to regulate flavours, packaging and displays of vape products to make them less appealing to children.
The new tax on vapes and increase in tobacco duty are separate from this legislation but similarly seek to it harder for children to buy nicotine products.
The devices, which are often colourfully packaged and come in candy-like flavours, are sold in places like sweet shops for ‘pocket money prices’.
Initially touted as a ‘safer’ alternative to tobacco, public health experts have become increasingly concerned that youngsters who have never smoked are using them.
From June next year, the sale of disposable single-use vapes will be outlawed across England and Wales.
It comes amid worrying figures from the NHS which showed around a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds in England have tried vaping, with one-in-10 now regular users.
It comes as campaigners fear that vapes, which are seemingly reusable, but are almost as cheap as single-use devices, could skirt the ban.
These products are marketed as ‘rechargeables’, ‘pod’ or ‘Big Puff’ vapes.
Scott Butler, executive director of non-profit group Material Focus, told The Times: ‘These new vapes, which are already widely available in the UK, can be re-charged and therefore could have a long life span.
‘However they are ‘per puff’ on a similar price point to single-use models, a large proportion are marketed as disposable, and consumers are now used to the throwaway culture embedded with single-use vapes.’
The new legislation will ban all disposable vapes, regardless of where they are imported from, and will force shops and retailers to use ‘takedown procedures’ to stop illicit suppliers when the ban comes into place.
But the Director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association John Dunne told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that authorities won’t be able to keep up with ‘black market’ vapes once the new law is enforced.
‘Very simply we already have a black market in this country in illicit vapes, ones that contain too much nicotine or are too large to be legally sold in this market – and that’s fuelled by the fact that the products are legally allowed to be imported into the country, if not illegally allowed to be sold’, Dunne said
‘We are going to do the exact same thing now about the disposable vape’, he added.
Initially touted as a ‘safer’ alternative to tobacco, public health experts have become increasingly concerned that youngsters who have never smoked are using them.
Multiple shocking cases have also emerged of collapsed lungs, fainting or vomiting ominous green liquid among, liked to heavy vaping.
And, disturbingly, there is evidence children as young as four are being hospitalised due to damage caused by vapes.
Downing Street’s laws will force all suppliers in England to get rid of all disposables stock by June 2025, and expects the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to impose the same cut-off date for single-use vapes.
But Dunne believes that if trading standards are already struggling to keep up with the illicit trade, they ‘won’t be able to go into every single convenience store and every single vape store to check every device to see if it fits that criteria’.
‘We’ve already seen in other countries that have banned these products has just fuelled a massive black market’, he declared.
Rishi Sunak had initially announced plans to ban disposable vapes by January, and Labour did not mention the policy in its election manifesto.
The former prime minister acted over evidence showing those taking up the habit across all age groups has ballooned by more than 400 per cent since 2012.
More worryingly, recent NHS figures showed a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds in England have tried vaping, with almost one in 10 using e-cigarettes regularly.
There are also environmental concerns regarding disposable vapes, with more than 40 tonnes of lithium, used in the batteries, being thrown out with disposable vapes in 2022 — enough to power around 5,000 electric vehicles.
