Doncaster MP defies PM to vote against smoking ban, saying nanny state raises "weak individuals"

MPs last night backed a plan to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes, effectively ensuring it will become law.

But Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher was not among them and ahead of the vote said his Christian faith stopped him supporting the bill.

He told the Commons: “Nanny states do not raise warrioers, they create weak individuals – weak individuals create tough times.

"I want a soceiety to help raise warriors as I believe going forward, we are going to need as many as we can find, smokers or not.

"Is it Christian to support or not support this bill?

"I am sure there are arguments on both sides.

"But we start each day in this place saying the Lord’s Prayer. We ask our Lord ‘lead me not into temptation.’ we do not ask him to take temptation away.

"I think the Lord wants us to be warriors, to be able to withstand the many temptations this world offers. I also think he wants us to make decisions and not sit on the fence.

“I will vote against this Bill, not because I want to, not because I want young people to smoke, I don’t. I want them to be warriors and say no to the many temptations they face.”

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed by 383 votes to 67, with Mr Fletcher among those defying the PM.

If they become law, the UK's smoking laws will be among the strictest in the world.

Several Tory MPs, including former prime minister Liz Truss, voted against the bill, arguing it would limit personal freedom and last week, ex-prime minster Boris Johnson called the smoking ban "absolutely nuts" during a speech in Canada.

"When the party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars, donnez-moi un break as they say in Quebec, it's just mad," he said.

Conservative MPs were given a free vote on the bill, meaning they were not ordered to vote with the government. But full support by Labour's front bench ensured the measures passed.

There are still several more steps needed before it becomes law, such as votes in the House of Lords, but it is possible that the bill could now become law before the general election, expected in the second half of 2024.

Mr Sunak used his conference speech in October of last year to unveil his plans to ban people born after 1 January 2009 from buying tobacco products.

Earlier in the day, England's chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty said once people become addicted to smoking "their choice is taken away".

He said: "When I was a junior doctor doing surgery I remember the tragedy of seeing people, whose legs had had to be cut off because of the smoking that had damaged their arteries, outside the hospital weeping as they lit up because they were trapped by addiction - that is not choice."

Tobacco use is the UK's single biggest preventable cause of death, killing two-thirds of long-term users and causing 80,000 deaths every year.