On May 25, 2023, Rishi Sunak appeared on ITV’s This Morning for a short interview. The conversation eventually turned to recent vaping headlines.
Rishi said, “You were talking about vapes before I came on. I have two young girls. I also worry about that. That’s why we have recently funded a new ‘hit-squad’, which is going to go in and tackle shops that shouldn’t be selling vapes to children, which is already illegal.
“We are looking at how we can strengthen the rules around how they are marketed, promoted and what they look like. It looks like they are targeted at kids, which is ridiculous. I don’t want my kids to be seduced by any of these things.”
A few days earlier, Kier Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, also referenced vaping in a speech concerning futureproofing of the NHS. If elected, he pledged, “We will change advertising rules, and we will make sure that products which are harmful to our children’s health – vaping, junk food, sugary snacks – cannot be advertised to our children. No – not in Britain.”