Cigar lounges could shut under Labour

As the only public place where people can legally smoke indoors, the cigar lounge is a hold-out against the relentless anti-smoking agenda.

But now, this last bastion of a bygone era, could soon be shut down by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.

MPs are calling for cigar lounges to be closed, cigarette filters to be banned, and a “polluter pays” levy to be imposed on the tobacco industry.

Currently, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will outlaw smoking for anyone born from 2009 onwards and ban smoking and vaping outside hospitals, schools and parks.

But in a new report, MPs want the legislation to go further and close the loophole on cigar lounges, which would see them shut down.

Cigar lounges, such as those along the “cigar mile” in London – a nickname for the area around St James’ Street – have withstood decades of anti-smoking legislation, including the 2007 ban on smoking indoors, thanks to a special exemption that allows cigar shop customers to smoke on-site.

However, the report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health wants the Government to close the loophole for cigar lounges. It also calls for a widening of smoke-free and vape-free public places.

Other proposals include a ban on “all cigarette filters to remove the false sense of protection they provide and reduce the impact of smoking on the environment”.

Critics have said this amounts to “a de facto ban on cigarettes”, given the filters are a legal requirement to limit the amount of tar and nicotine inhaled.

The report said the tobacco industry should be forced to pay a “polluter pays levy” to raise £700 million to fund initiatives that lower smoking rates and help close the gap in healthy life expectancy.

It also recommended that the industry be made to publish sales data to “support national tobacco control strategies” and told ministers to “drive down” the affordability of tobacco to incentivise people to quit.

The MPs also want cigarette packs, which have already got health warnings on the front, to have inserts inside the packs that would “reinforce awareness of health harms”.

Bob Blackman, Conservative MP and member of the APPG, said: “This report sets out a comprehensive plan that accelerates our progress to a smoke-free UK. Further delay comes at too great a cost.”

But critics argue that the nanny-state proposals are an attempt to manipulate public policy as a way to increase anti-smoking funds.

Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “A ban on cigarette filters would be a de facto ban on all cigarettes because it is impossible to keep within tar and nicotine limits without the use of a filter.”

He added: “These prohibitionists have achieved everything they could have hoped for [with the Bill] but they can’t stop now because they would be out of work.

“The call for a tobacco levy - which would just be another tax on smokers - is designed to create a slush fund for the anti-smoking lobby. The Government should recognise this as blatant rent-seeking.”

‘Millions trapped by addiction’

Mary Foy, Labour MP and co-chair of the APPG, said: “The UK is set to introduce world-leading new laws that will protect future generations from the enormous harms of smoking, but we cannot ignore the millions of people still trapped by addiction.

“The only people who benefit from smoking are the tobacco industry, who generate huge profits from peddling misery and illness,” she said. “It’s time for them to pay for the damage they cause.”

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will also include a total ban on vape advertising and sponsorship, including displays seen by children and young people such as on buses, in cinemas and in shop windows, bringing them in line with tobacco restrictions.

Disposable vapes will be banned from June 2025 under separate environmental legislation.

Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Smoking costs society in England £43.7 billion a year. A polluter pays levy on the tobacco industry would ensure that the tobacco industry is the one picking up the tab, not taxes on working people.

“The Government should consult on a levy ahead of the autumn Budget to allow time for legislation to be brought forward this year.”