Thérèse Coffey urged to promote alternatives as concerns grow over tobacco control plan

The New Nicotine Alliance (NNA), which represents consumers of low-risk alternatives to cigarettes such as vaping products, nicotine pouches, smokeless and heated tobacco products, has on Friday written to Heath and Social Care Secretary Thérèse Coffey, asking her to promote non-combustible products to reduce smoking.

The intervention comes in the wake of reports this week that Coffey is delaying publication of the new tobacco control plan, along with rumours that the government is not minded to take forward recommendations contained in the summer’s independent tobacco review led by Dr Javed Khan.

In the letter, the NNA has put forward its 20 recommendations for reducing smoking which rely on consumer choice, deregulation, competition and private sector innovation.

The NNA noted that these proposals could be fashioned into an alternative programme to the interventions proposed by Javed Khan.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Minister for Brexit Opportunities, has also been copied in the letter, which include five ‘easy wins’ which simply require scrapping of unnecessary and counterproductive EU regulations within the government’s Brexit Freedoms Bill proposals.

“Removing pointless EU-derived regulatory barriers would be popular with current vapers and could encourage more smokers to switch. Freeing up the potential of other low-risk nicotine alternatives by promoting their use as a replacement for combustible tobacco can also help drive further declines in smoking prevalence,” the organisation said.