How did Barnsley and Rotherham MPs vote on smoking ban?

The measures were voted through with 383 to 67 in favour, despite opposition from several Tory MPs – including Alexander Stafford, who represents Rother Valley.

The legislation, which would ban smoking for future generations by raising the legal age every year, was passed through the House of Commons, 383 to 67 in favour.

The House of Lords will now vote on the plans before they become law.

Conservative MPs were not ordered to vote with the government, but full support by Labour’s front bench ensured the measures passed.

Labour MPs Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central), Sarah Champion (Rotherham) and John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) all voted in favour of the legislation.

Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) was absent from the vote.

Alexander Stafford told the House of Commons during the debate that he believed a ban would be ‘fundamentally wrong and misguided’, and that ‘young people are not smoking’.

He said in the debate that he did not vote against the ban ‘because I have any vested interest in the tobacco lobby or because I am a smoker or an ex-smoker; it is because I am a lover of freedom, a lover of choice and a lover of information’.

“Young people are not smoking. It is not cool to smoke. The bill should be focused more on the vape side of things. We are debating cigarettes, which are naturally going out of existence anyway, rather than focusing on the dangerous vapes that are addictive for young children.

“Sugar and salt are highly addictive. Does this mean that Labour’s plan is to ban foods with high levels of salt or sugar?

“I believe that the battle against smoking has been won—we are just fighting the last rearguard action—which is why I think the Bill is fundamentally wrong. It is fighting yesterday’s wars, not tomorrow’s wars.

“Who is to say that, in a few years’ time, a 21-year-old cannot celebrate their graduation with a cigar? If they want to, why not?”

Dan Jarvis, MP for Barnsley Central, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service following the vote: “As a long-standing campaigner for cancer charities, I know just how harmful smoking and vaping at an early age can be. That is why I support the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which will make it an offence to sell tobacco products to children born after 1 January 2009 and reduce the availability of vapes to our children.

“The benefits of doing this are clear and include reducing pressure on our NHS, cutting costs for the taxpayer, protecting young people from a lifetime of addiction and addressing the biggest preventable killer in the UK: smoking kills.”

According to Rotherham Council, 16.9 per cent of Rotherham adults (around 35,400 people) were smokers in 2021 compared to 13 per cent nationally,

Ten per cent of Rotherham young people smoked aged 15 according to 2014/15 estimates, the latest available.

In Barnsley, 15.8 per cent of adults smoke.

Nationally, those aged 25 to 34 years continued to have the highest proportion of current smokers (16.3 per cent, around 1.4 million people), compared with any other age group, according to the ONS.