Clacton’s Member of Parliament voted against a bill proposing a tobacco ban for everyone born in 2009 and later. 

Giles Watling MP did not vote in favour of the new Tobacco and Vapes Bill on April 16, questioning the effectiveness of the measures proposed in the bill. 

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Watling said: "No one in Clacton has ever looked at issues locally and told me that the solution is new taxes and overly convoluted legislation.  

“Do we think a complex and incremental age-increasing ban is enforceable? With such weak enforcement, it is not. 

“If we want to clamp down on the very real issue of illegal cigarettes and the underage sale of vapes and cigarettes, then we need a licencing scheme in my view which properly funds Trading Standards teams and rewards those responsible business owners whilst going after the villains.  

“Now I could support a ban on selling these products to those under 21 or under 18 or whatever, [...] this would be preferable to a law which puts the shopkeeper in the firing line.  

“Turfing out the 22-year-old, whilst questioning the 24-year-old and supplying the 25-year-old."