Ministers launch crackdown on vapes targeting kids

Ministers launch crackdown on vapes targeting kids
Ministers have launched a crackdown on vapes marketed at kids with a shift to plain white packaging.
- Plans to keep vapes out of sight in shops, airports and wholesalers
- Plain packaging for all tobacco products, including cigars and cigarette papers
Plans to stop vapes being marketed to children have been unveiled today (10 July) as part of a UK-wide consultation to introduce plain packaging, restrictions on flavour description rules and keeping vapes out of sight in shops.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) report that around one million 11-17 year olds in Great Britain reported trying vaping in 2025. Evidence suggests that colourful packaging, prominent retail displays and child-appealing flavours are among the factors driving young people to take it up.
The UK government and the devolved governments have launched a consultation that includes proposals to reduce the appeal of vapes to young children, including white packaging with restrictions on text colour, imagery, branding and standardised product information.
There will also be restrictions on flavour names to simple recognisable descriptions and vape devices to be white, black or grey.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care James Murray said:
The evidence is clear: there are too many young people experimenting with vapes, attracted by the array of flavours, bright colours and marketing displays.
We want a healthier future for the next generation, so we must act now to reduce the appeal of addictive vapes to our children.
Vapes are less harmful than cigarettes and can play an important role in helping adult smokers to quit, but they should never be designed or marketed in ways that tempt children. These proposals are about striking the right balance and I urge everyone to have their say.
Standardised packaging has helped reduce the appeal of smoking since its introduction for cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco in 2017.
The consultation proposes to extend these requirements for all tobacco products, including cigars and cigarette papers.
Further proposals include introducing positive quit themed inserts directing smokers to resources to quit and health warnings for all tobacco products, as well as removing displays for tobacco products in duty-free settings and airports.
The consultation follows the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Act, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, and sets out proposals to create the UK’s first smoke-free generation, protecting children from nicotine addiction, while ensuring adult smokers can still access vaping products to help them quit.
There is also growing awareness and use among young people of other nicotine products, including nicotine pouches, which are covered by several of the proposed measures.
Scotland Public Health Minister Maree Todd said:
Scotland has been a world-leader on a range of tobacco control measures, and while there has been a steady reduction in smoking rates, we know it still damages lives and kills more than 7,000 people a year in Scotland.
The use of vapes has increased in recent years, particularly among children and young people – with almost one in five children saying they have tried vaping.
We know that colourful packaging and displays are used as an enticement to children and young people, which is why we are taking action and consulting on options to address this issue. We urge everyone to have their say on how these products are marketed and sold in the future to help protect children and young people and reduce preventable harm in Scotland.
Northern Ireland Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said:
The rise in vaping amongst children and young people concerns me. Restricting the visibility of these products will lessen their appeal, which in turn will reduce youth vaping and prevent future generations from nicotine addiction.
I consider it vital that we get the views from the public on the future of displaying and packaging of these products. I would encourage everyone to take the time to respond to this consultation.
Wales Deputy Minister for Preventative and Public Health Nerys Evans said:
Vapes are being deliberately designed and marketed to appeal to children - with bright colours, cartoon branding and sweet-sounding flavour names that have no place in products containing addictive nicotine.
It is simply unacceptable and I would encourage urge everyone to support our efforts to protect children’s health.
Professor Steve Turner, President of The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said:
Any measures that improve child health are welcome and much needed. As paediatricians, we are deeply concerned by the insidious marketing practices used by tobacco and vaping companies to target our future generations.
For those of us working with children every day, it is clear that only strong and meaningful regulation will protect them from the harms associated with nicotine addiction. We welcome this consultation as an important step towards creating a healthier future for children and young people.
Hazel Cheeseman, Chief Executive of ASH, said:
Protecting children from harmful vape marketing is the right thing to do. Attractive, colourful branding and images have driven the appeal of vapes to children leading to an increase in use. At the same time there is a careful balance to strike with regulations. While vapes are not harm free, they are significantly less harmful than smoking and vapes have helped millions of people successfully stop smoking in recent years.
The task now is to thread the needle of making vaping less appealing to children without making it less effective for adults who want to quit smoking. Get that balance wrong, and we risk slowing progress against smoking, the leading cause of preventable death.
The consultation seeks views on proposals for vapes and nicotine products including:
- Introducing plain white packaging with restrictions on text colour, imagery, limited branding and standardised safety information
- Restricting flavour names to only simple recognisable descriptions (e.g. “Apple”), banning concept and sensory names as well as names relating to confectionery, sweets, desserts and alcohol
- Mandating manufacturers of vape devices to make them white, black or grey, with no images, limited branding, no cosmetic lights and screens only displaying safety information (e.g. battery level)
- Restrict shop displays in the same way as tobacco products.
Further measures in the proposals for tobacco products include:
- Extending existing plain packaging requirements and health warnings for cigarettes across all tobacco products, herbal smoking products, cigarette papers and heated tobacco devices.
- Introducing positive quit-support messages inside all tobacco products, including cigarettes, hand-rolling tobacco, herbal smoking products and heated tobacco devices
- Extending existing tobacco display restrictions to all tobacco related products, cigarette papers, herbal smoking products
- Removing an existing display exemption for bulk tobacconists, including duty-free shops and airports, meaning that tobacco products would be restricted from display in these settings
- Restricting heated tobacco devices to a drab brown colour the same as tobacco packaging, with no images, limited branding, no cosmetic lights and screens only displaying safety information (e.g. battery level)
This consultation is part of wider action to tackle youth vaping. It follows a ban on single-use vapes (1 June 2025), and comes ahead of the introduction of a Vaping Products Duty (1 October 2026), future bans on the sale of vapes from vending machines and their free distribution (29 October 2026), and an end to the advertising and sponsorship of vapes (1 June 2027).
Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor MBE, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Health and Wellbeing Committee, said:
Reducing the appeal of vapes to children with tighter controls on flavours, packaging and promotion, will be key to addressing the concerning rise in youth vaping.
There is no legitimate reason for nicotine products to come in neon packaging, feature cartoon images, or use flavours and branding designed to catch a child’s eye. Products designed, packaged, and promoted in ways that appeal to children have likely contributed to one in five 11- to 17-year-olds having now tried vaping.
Councils have long called for an end to vapes being dressed up like sweets and sold within arm’s reach of the pick and mix. This consultation is the moment to close the loopholes that have enabled these products that appeal to children to remain on sale.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said:
We welcome measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Act that support our vision of ending the death and disease caused by tobacco and preventing future generations from taking up lethal smoking.
We support standardised packaging of all tobacco products. This would have the biggest impact if it is alongside public awareness campaigns on the harms of tobacco and benefits of quitting.
We know nicotine vapes are playing a very important role in helping people quit smoking, but it is right that action is taken to reduce youth appeal. It is vital that regulations do not increase harm misconceptions about vaping compared with smoking, and that the impact of all these policies on health inequalities is closely monitored.
Dr Ian Walker, executive director of policy and information of Cancer Research UK, said:
Evidence so far shows that legal vapes are far less harmful than tobacco, but we still don’t know their long-term impact, so it’s absolutely right that the UK Government is taking steps to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to young people and those who have never smoked. As vapes are an effective cessation tool, any new regulation must make sure they are still accessible to people trying to stop smoking. Tobacco remains the biggest cause of cancer in the UK, so we’re also pleased to see plans to extend plain packaging to all tobacco products, which is proven to help shield children from a deadly addiction. Thanks to the world-leading Tobacco and Vapes Act becoming law, a future free from the devastating harms of tobacco is firmly within reach. Governments across the UK must now ensure the Act is implemented fully in every nation.
Andrew McCracken, Director of External Affairs at Asthma + Lung UK, said:
This is an important first step to reduce the appeal of vaping products to children and young people. The brazen marketing of vapes to children is reprehensible and needs to be stopped.
We do not want to see anybody vaping, other than for smoking cessation. Vapes do play an important role to smokers looking to quit, but if you don’t smoke don’t vape.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said:
Eye-catching branding, bright colours, and enticing names have no place on vaping products that should never be used by children.
Too many lives are still cut short by tobacco-related heart attacks and strokes, so the Government is right to look at ways of making tobacco and vaping products less attractive to young people.
Having already taken the historic step of stopping future generations from ever being legally sold cigarettes, the Government must now press ahead with confidence and urgency to create a smokefree generation sooner than any thought possible.
Alison Challenger, Policy Co-Lead for Addiction at the Association of Directors of Public Health, said:
We are pleased to see this consultation launched to support stronger restrictions on tobacco and vape product packaging. These products are designed to attract and keep our communities, and more worryingly our children and young people, hooked on these health-harming products, often through eye-catching marketing, youth-friendly messaging, and strategic placement.
That is why we need standardised, plain packaging, particularly across vapes, that strips away the branding and promotional design used to make these products enticing. Alongside this, we need to better support people to quit smoking and make the harms of tobacco clearer.
Only by reducing the appeal and accessibility of these products can we stop the harms of smoking and create a smoke-free future where everyone, especially our children and young people, have the freedom to live healthier lives.
Background
- This consultation is UK-wide.
- Proposed regulations in this consultation stem from powers within the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April.
- The consultation runs for 12 weeks from launch.
- No immediate changes to law are being made at this stage.
- Regulations will be developed following analysis of consultation responses.
- Medicinally licensed nicotine products are exempt from these proposals and are subject to different legislation.
- Tobacco products include: cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco, waterpipe tobacco (e.g shisha), nasal tobacco (snuff), chewing tobacco, heated tobacco, blunts. Cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco are already covered by plain packaging legislation and will have pack inserts introduced in due course. The consultation will cover all tobacco products, meaning it is futureproofed for any tobacco new product that is developed.
- Proposed plain packaging legislation in line with existing cigarette packaging is for all tobacco products, herbal smoking products, heated tobacco devices & cigarette papers.
- Proposed quit-themed pack inserts for all tobacco products, herbal smoking products and heated tobacco devices but not cigarette papers due to their small size.