Speeches by Johnson.

“I respect the Secretary of State’s wish to ensure that she has considered the Act thoroughly. I regret that it has taken her so long to come to the conclusion that free speech is important, but I am glad that she has decided to bring into force many of the measures in the Act, which was introduced by the Conservatives.…”

“That was not the question.”

“Sorry, could I bring you back to the question, please? The question was: there will be schools whose fees are set at a certain level and whose parents cannot afford that level anymore. Those children may have to leave those schools as a result. These are children. However affluent their parents may be and whatever thei…”

“Clauses 1 to 9 of the Bill have predominantly dealt with tobacco products of varying kinds. Clause 10 moves on to the sale of vaping or nicotine products to under-18s, distinct from the measures on a smoke-free generation and the date of birth of 1 January 2009. The first question is what are the vaping products of whi…”

“The amendments in this group are similar to previous amendments and are designed to provoke debate on the proportionality of the offences. Like other such Opposition amendments, amendment 63 would amend clause 10 to add “, save if it is a first offence”. Amendment 64 would amend clause 10 by adding that if someone has …”

“I beg to move amendment 63, in clause 10, page 5, line 33, at end insert “, save if it is a first offence.” See explanatory statement to Amendment 66.”

“To be clear, I am not suggesting that it should be on the market, as the Minister well knows, because I support both helping people using tobacco to quit and preventing people from starting to use tobacco. I merely want to understand why there is a difference in treatment. On the basis of what the Minister has said, wh…”

“I thank the Minister for going through the questions thoroughly. I did not want to risk his getting to the end of his speech without answering the question of why snus is treated differently from other forms of tobacco. Is it merely a historical artefact?”

“How many manufacturers in the UK are producing snus for export?”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his point. I believe that the Bill specifies somewhere which clauses apply under which jurisdictions, but I cannot remember exactly which page that is on. I am sure the Minister in his summing up will be able to identify where my hon. Friend can look to review that, but some of the clauses wi…”

“I thank the Minister for clarifying that so comprehensively. Clause 8 deals with the sale of snus. Clause 7 having made it an offence to manufacture snus, clause 8 bans the sale of snus, which it defines, in the same way as described by the Minister, as a “relevant oral tobacco product”. In wording that is slightly dif…”

“My understanding—I am sure the Minister will leap to his feet to correct me if I am wrong—is that the Bill does not apply to nicotine pouches per se, because nicotine pouches do not contain tobacco. As I understand it, the brands we see in our local supermarket in similar round pots contain nicotine, and they are put i…”

“I am happy to give way—and to be promoted.”

“That was the second question I considered when preparing for the debate on this clause. My first question was: what is snus? My second was: if it is a tobacco product, why is it treated differently? We have talked about all sorts of different tobacco products—cigarettes, cigars, snuff—yet this one has particularly robu…”

“I am merely suggesting that changing the notice in clause 5 to “born on or after 1 January 2009” instead of “under 18” now would be more efficient, and help our Scottish colleagues, rather than implying they are not capable of doing so.”

“I am defending myself, as the Minister has accused me of something, Sir Mark.”

“I have at no point suggested that I do not respect the devolution that is in place. I made two remarks that reference devolution. One was about the different penalties that apply for the same offence in different parts of the United Kingdom. While I recognise that Ministers in other parts of the country have the compet…”

“I am sorry, Sir Mark. The regulations will need to be enforced whether one is a shop assistant in a small shop or in a large shop. In a large shop that sells tobacco, such as a large supermarket, one might have the benefit of a security guard, additional staff and many more people around. Alternatively, a 19-year-old m…”

“The regulations will need to be enforced not just in a large supermarket, where the shop assistant has the benefit of a security guard and other—”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. It is of course correct that we have devolution, and the hon. Member for Worthing West is of course right that Welsh Ministers—in the same way as Scottish Ministers, and, as I will come to, Northern Irish Ministers—have the capacity to deal with changes to the signs, but it …”