Sunak says there is nothing ‘unconservative’ about protecting children in smoking ban row with Truss – UK politics live | Politics

Rishi Sunak has urged Iran to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East after three US troops were killed in a drone strike in Jordan, PA Media reports. Speaking to broadcasters this morning, Sunak said:

We are concerned and would urge Iran to continue to de-escalate tensions in the region.

We absolutely condemn what has happened over the past couple of days.

My thoughts are with all of those impacted, those who lost their lives, their families and those that are injured.

We stand resolutely with our allies to bring stability and peace to the region.

And that’s what we’ll continue to work towards.

Martin Belam has more coverage on our Middle East crisis live blog.

Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has been giving evidence to the UK Covid inquiry in Edinburgh this morning. The inquiry is currently looking at governance and decision-making issues, and the Edinburgh hearings have focused on aspects relating to Scotland.

The inquiry has already heard considerable evidence about disputes in Covid policy between the UK and Scottish governments – last week it emerged Nicola Sturgeon, the then first minister, regarded Boris Johnson, the then prime minister, as a “fucking clown”, but this morning the main thrust of Gove’s evidence has played down all talk of tensions and insisted that relations, overall, were good. As the Cabinet Office minister at the time, he was the UK government minister responsible for liaising with the devolved governments.

At one point he was asked about an exchange of messages he had with Matt Hancock, the then UK health secretary, in which Hancock objected to the devolved governments being consulted about a report from the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Hancock said:

I’ve now read that sub (submission), I’m very unhappy with it. The JBC was designed to be a UK institution that gathers and analyses data. There is no need to run it through a committee of four nations. We wouldn’t put English local authorities on the board!

When it was put to Gove that this was indicative of London’s attitude to the Scottish government, he replied:

No, I don’t believe so. Naturally there were some within the UK government who found it irksome that the Scottish government may have taken a different view, but overall the way in which the UK government worked was respectful of and inclusive towards the Scottish government.

And, at another point in his evidence, talking generally, he said:

Of course there were differences in approach and of course we had different political parties operating, but day-to-day management and day-to-day responsibilities exercised by ministers in devolved admins and in UK government was for the most part constructive.

Rishi Sunak has rejected Liz Truss’s claim that his plan to gradually ban all cigarette sales – by raising the legal age for buying them by one year every year, so that today’s 14-year-olds can never buy them legally – is unconservative.

Speaking to broadcasters this morning, he said:

I don’t think there’s anything unconservative about caring about our children’s health.

But he also stressed that Conservative MPs would be offered a free vote on this. He said:

On smoking, there’s been a long tradition in parliament of these being free votes which aren’t party political. People will have their own views on that. That’s the same as it’s been in the past.

But I think this is the right long-term thing for our country. Smoking causes one in four cancer deaths. It’s responsible for a hospitalisation every minute. And if we don’t do something about it, hundreds of thousands of people will die in the coming years.

We do have a chance to do something about it. And if we raise the smoking age incrementally, that will mean people will stop smoking. The vast majority of people take up smoking when they are young. If we can stop that start, we will be well on the way to making sure we have the first smoke-free generation in our country.

Sunak was referring to votes like the one in 2006 to ban smoking in pubs, and the one in 2014 to ban smoking in cars containing children, both of which were free votes.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has also expressed concerns about the legality of the Rwanda bill. The commission has repeatedly raised doubts about the lawfulness of the government’s Rwanda policy and, in a briefing paper for peers before the second reading debate in the Lords this afternoon, it says:

The bill:

– risks breaching the UK’s legal obligations under the European convention on human rights (ECHR) and other international human rights treaties by subjecting individuals to the risk of refoulement and other breaches of their human rights;

– undermines the fundamental principle of the universality of human rights and damages our human rights legal framework; and

– has regressive implications for the rule of law and the separation of powers.

A spokesperson for the commission said:

Human rights are universal and must be guaranteed for all.

The Human Rights Act (HRA) has significantly improved human rights protections for everyone in the UK, but the safety of Rwanda bill undermines the universality of human rights by disapplying core provisions of the HRA.

On the face of the bill, the home secretary was unable to confirm that it complies with the European convention on human rights. By disapplying sections of the HRA and seeking to prevent courts from considering the risk of refoulement, this bill could expose people to harm and breaches of their right to life, their rights to be free from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment and their right to effective remedy.

With peers preparing to debate the government’s safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill this afternoon, new claims have been made that it breaches human rights law.

While other critiques have focused on whether the legislation is compliant with international law relating to refugees, the latest report focuses on its relationship to international law relating to human trafficking and modern slavery.

The 17-page analysis has been published by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC), a specialist thinktank linked to the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.

In a summary of the report, Modern Slavery PEC said:

This analysis has found that the removal to Rwanda of people who either are confirmed victims of modern slavery or human trafficking or there are reasonable grounds to believe they may be victims raises serious issues under both the European convention on human rights (ECHR) and the Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings (ECAT), irrespective of any claim they may have under international refugee law.

It concluded that, in its current form, neither the Rwanda treaty nor the safety of Rwanda bill comply with the UK’s international legal obligations.

The legal analysis has found that removing to Rwanda people who received a positive ‘reasonable grounds’ decision (the first stage of a process formally identifying people as victims of modern slavery), without completing the identification process – as envisaged by article 13 of the Rwanda treaty – will automatically and in all cases put the UK in breach of article 4 ECHR (prohibition of slavery and forced labour), as well as article 10 ECAT (obligation to identify and assist every victim of modern slavery and human trafficking).

In addition, removing identified victims of modern slavery and human trafficking without conducting an individualised assessment of the risk of re-trafficking would breach the operational duty under article 4 ECHR.

Lastly, removing potential or confirmed victims of modern slavery and human trafficking risks interfering with an obligation to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of modern slavery and human trafficking contained in article 4 ECHR and article 27 ECAT.

Marija Jovanovic, a law lecturer at Essex University and a trafficking/modern slavery specialist who wrote the report, said:

Unlike international treaties designed to protect asylum seekers and refugees, the anti-trafficking instruments expressly require states not to remove suspected victims of human trafficking before their status is determined.

Drafted over half a century after the 1951 refugee convention, these obligations are much more explicit, concrete and demanding when it comes to protection requirements.

The Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings (ECAT) was only agreed in 2005.

Shares in vaping firms tumbled this morning as disposable vapes are set to be banned in Britain, PA Media reports. PA says:

Chill Brands saw shares slide by as much as 35% in early trading as a result, while rival business Supreme saw shares drop around 12%.

Chill’s market value had fallen by over £3m, with over £10m knocked off Supreme’s valuation during the morning trading session.

The announcement forms part of the government’s response to its consultation on smoking and vaping, which was launched in October last year.

The ban is expected to come into force at the end of 2024 or the start of 2025.

On Monday, Chill Brands, which makes nicotine-free vapes as well as CBD products, stressed that it is “committed to strict compliance with all relevant laws”.

Callum Sommerton, the chief executive of Chill, said it will continue to sell its products across UK and US retailers but they are prepared to adjust to rule changes.

He said: “The vaping landscape is constantly evolving, creating opportunities for businesses that are able to navigate the regulatory environment. The Chill brand has gained rapid traction with the support of major retailers, and I am confident that it will continue to do so as we move forward with our plans to launch reusable pod system vapes.

“Chill Brands Group is an agile company, and we are prepared to adjust to any legislation that may be enacted.”

Rival Supreme, which has brands including 88Vape, has yet to comment on the latest announcement, but it said in October that it was “fully supportive of any further legislation in the sector”.

Good morning. Two weeks ago Rishi Sunak saw off the Tory rebels wanting him to toughen up the Rwanda bill, and last week the former cabinet minister Simon Clarke was shouted down by colleagues when he called for a new leader, but the turmoil in the party never really goes away these days, and today Liz Truss, Sunak’s predecessor, is fomenting revolt on another issue.

Truss has delivered a withering attack on Sunak’s proposal to gradually ban the next generations from ever being able to buy cigarettes. She opposed the idea as soon as Sunak announced it at the Conservative party conference last year, but today she has gone further, describing the proposal as “absurd” and “profoundly unconservative”. In a statement, she said:

While the state has a duty to protect children from harm, in a free society adults must be able to make their own choices about their own lives.

Banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or later will create an absurd situation where adults enjoy different rights based on their birth date.

A Conservative government should not be seeking to extend the nanny state. This will only give succour to those who wish to ban further choices of which they don’t approve.

The newly elected National government in New Zealand is already reversing the generational tobacco ban proposed by the previous administration.

The government urgently needs to follow suit and reverse this profoundly unconservative policy.

Truss was responding to an announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care saying that, following a consultation, the government intends to go ahead with plans to ban the sale of disposable vapes, to take other steps to halt already illegal vape sales to children, and to ban cigarette sales permanently for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.

The DHSC said legislation to do this (a tobacco and vapes bill was promised in the king’s speech) would be introduced “shortly”.

The DHSC announcement covers England and Wales, but the Scottish government has said it will do the same, and legislation is due to cover Northern Ireland too.

Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, has been giving interviews this morning and she has defended the plan to increase the legal age for buying cigarettes by one year every year, so that 14-year-olds never get the chance to buy a cigarette legally.

In response to Truss’s comments, she told BBC Breakfast:

I’m old enough to remember a time when you could walk into a pub and it was filled with smoke and everybody at the time when that (banning smoking in pubs) was being debated said: ‘Oh, this will never work’. Nowadays of course you would be astonished if somebody tried to spark up a cigarette in a pub or a public facility.

And she told LBC:

I think it’s rather like the debate that we had a decade ago about whether adults should be able to smoke in cars with their children. There was a lot of debate about that. But are we honestly saying now, 10 to 12 years later, that we would go back? Of course not.

Labour is supporting the legislation, so there is no risk of the bill not being passed. But there may be dozens of Tory MPs who agree with Truss, and who might be willing to vote against the government. When Atkins was asked on the Today programme if she was confident Conservative MPs would back the bill, she sidestepped the question, saying:

We have the support of mums and dads and smokers across the country. Smokers keep coming up to me saying I wish I’d never taken up smoking.

We will be hearing from Sunak on this later.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Rishi Sunak is on a visit in the north-east of England.

10am: Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary and former Cabinet Office minister, gives evidence to the UK Covid inquiry in Edinburgh. (During Covid he was the UK minister in charge of liaising with the devolved administrations.)

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Morning: Keir Starmer is visiting a branch of Iceland in the north-west of England. The Iceland boss, Richard Walker, a former Tory donor, has used an article for the Guardian to endorse Labour.

After 3pm: Peers begin debating the second reading of the safety of Rwanda (immigration and asylum) bill. More than 70 peers are on the list to speak.

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