Key Summary
- UK government plans to stop vapes being marketed to children.
- Plain packaging will be used for all tobacco products, including cigars and cigarette papers.
- The consultation follows the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Act.
The UK government has announced plans to stop vapes being marketed to children as part of a UK-wide consultation.
The proposals include introducing plain packaging, restricting flavour descriptions, and keeping vaping products out of sight in retail stores.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) reports that around one million 11- to 17-year-olds in Britain tried vaping in 2025.
Evidence suggests that colourful packaging, prominent retail displays, and child-appealing flavours are among the primary factors driving young people to take up the habit.
A consultation will run for 12 weeks , featuring proposals to reduce the appeal of vapes to young children.
Restrictions will also limit flavour names to simple, recognisable descriptions, and restrict vape devices to white, black, or grey.
This follows the recent passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Act, which sets out proposals to create the UK’s first smoke-free generation, protecting children from nicotine addiction, while ensuring adult smokers can still access vaping products to help them quit.
Health secretary James Murray said: “The evidence is clear: there are too many young people experimenting with vapes, attracted by the array of flavours, bright colours and marketing displays.
“We want a healthier future for the next generation, so we must act now to reduce the appeal of addictive vapes to our children.
“Vapes are less harmful than cigarettes and can play an important role in helping adult smokers to quit, but they should never be designed or marketed in ways that tempt children. These proposals are about striking the right balance and I urge everyone to have their say.”
Standardised packaging has helped reduce the appeal of smoking since its introduction for cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco in 2017. The consultation proposes extending these requirements to all tobacco products, including cigars and cigarette papers.
Further measures include introducing positive, quit-themed inserts to packaging, directing smokers to support resources, updated health warnings, and removing tobacco displays in duty-free settings and airports.
Scotland's Public Health minister Maree Todd commented: “Scotland has been a world-leader on a range of tobacco control measures, and while there has been a steady reduction in smoking rates, we know it still damages lives and kills more than 7,000 people a year in Scotland.”
Northern Ireland's health minister Mike Nesbitt said: “The rise in vaping amongst children and young people concerns me. Restricting the visibility of these products will lessen their appeal, which in turn will reduce youth vaping and prevent future generations from nicotine addiction.”
ASH chief executive Hazel Cheeseman said that a balance in approaches to vaping was needed.
“The task now is to thread the needle of making vaping less appealing to children without making it less effective for adults who want to quit smoking. Get that balance wrong, and we risk slowing progress against smoking, the leading cause of preventable death,” she said.
