West Northamptonshire Council: Motion backs e-cigarette restrictions

Government figures suggest about 10% of 11 to 15-year-olds use vapes

A council has passed a motion committing to press the government for tighter restrictions on e-cigarettes.

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) passed the motion.

Over the last six months, WNC's trading standards team has seized 5,000 illegal vapes and has been developing plans to tackle the popularity of addictive vapes in children.

Nationally, almost 10% of 11 to 15-year-olds use vapes, despite their potential health implications.

Speaking at the meeting, Ryan Michlig, who owns an e-cigarette shop in Northampton, said vapes were successful tool to help smokers switch over "in the correct hands", but that he had noticed a "massive change in the market" post-pandemic.

Mr Michlig said: "We're now seeing single-use products that are ready to go with high volumes of nicotine that most smokers don't need. They are available for sale at retailers that are non-specialist now and many of them are falling into the hands of underage users."

Government figures show that the number of children using vapes in the past three years has tripled, with over 20% of children aged 11 to 17 having tried a vape.

Matt Golby, the Conservative-controlled council's cabinet member for adult care, wellbeing and health integration, said that although he was "supportive" of the motion, there was already "a huge amount of work going on" in tackling underage vaping already by the council.

A motion for the council to write to the secretary of state for health and social care to call for ""tighter restrictions on the marketing of vape products, their availability to underage children," was passed with an overwhelming majority.

Councillor Catherine Russell, who presented the motion, said she was "delighted" to see the administration taking youth vaping seriously.

"West Northants will now add itself to the growing chorus of bodies calling on the government to act now to protect our children."