"Give Adults Freedom of Choice" - The Taxpayers Alliance Talks with Simon Clark

Nov 3, 2023 | Simon Clark, director of smokers' rights group Forest, joins us for this episode of TPA Talks. Reflecting on the upcoming smoking ban after decades of creeping regulation, Simon explains how the war on smokers and the rise of the nanny state have worrying implications for us all - smokers or not

I have been a lifelong Conservative voter, too. But I, like Simon Clark, will never vote for the party again if this ridiculous smoking ban really would be pushed through Parliament. Now, with an election imminent and the Conservatives unlikely to win, the Labour Party is likely to take up this ridiculous and illiberal policy proposal. I speak as an ex-smoker. I gave up smoking in April 2022. I used to smoke twenty cigarettes a day which, back in the day, used to be considered normal, not heavy. Heavy smoking used to be 40 - 60 cigarettes a day! However, with the price of a packet of Marlboro Reds, my cigarettes of choice, brushing £16, it became far too expensive to continue with the habit. So, I gave up. Bang went one of the main pleasures in my life! And I resent that. I object to this Conservative government taking older people's pleasures away from them. I really do. This sort of thing is expected from a more left-wing, socialist government, but not the Tories. — © Mark Alexander

This is one VERY IMPORTANT REASON why I am so against governments interfering with people’s smoking rights. These bans will not stop at smoking. I have said it all along. Now here comes the evidence! Left-wing do-gooders are on the warpath:

Extend success of UK sugar tax to cakes, biscuits and chocolate, experts urge: Exclusive: Co-author of analysis for WHO calls on government to control the food industry rather than being subservient to it »

The War on Smoking: "Give Adults Freedom of Choice" - TPA Talks with Simon Clark

Nov 3, 2023 | Simon Clark, director of smokers' rights group Forest, joins us for this episode of TPA Talks. Reflecting on the upcoming smoking ban after decades of creeping regulation, Simon explains how the war on smokers and the rise of the nanny state have worrying implications for us all - smokers or not.

BORIS JOHNSON: Rishi's smoking ban is barmy. Child A will be free to smoke like a chimney to the end of his days. Child B - born only a day later - will be a criminal if he does... How the hell is that supposed to work? »

I am an ex-smoker, but still, I am very much against this progressive smoking ban for young people. Firstly, it is undemocratic; secondly, this government has far more important things to concern itself with than a few young people taking up the smoking habit.

For starters, increasingly few young people do take up the habit these days; they prefer to vape. But then it must be said that one can hardly expect a young person to go to war for his country if he is not allowed a cigarette after battle. Take a look at how many Ukrainian soldiers are pictured with cigarettes!

Were I to have a son and he were he to be expected to fight for his country, I would be very unhappy if he were denied the simple pleasure of smoking a cigarette. Frankly, in this world, if the worst that a young person does is smoke a cigarette and enjoy a drink of alcohol twixt cradle and grave, I would consider myself a rip-roaring success as a father! People get up to far, far worse than smoking tobacco these days.

In any case, even though I no longer smoke, I am still against this ban. Successive governments have made the enjoyable habit of smoking far too expensive for most people, Here in the UK, a pack of Marlboro Reds is brushing £15 in many places! And the price increases each and every budget. This is deliberate government policy in order to curtail people's smoking and the pleasure smokers derive from it.

I stopped smoking in April 2022. And at that time, Marlboro Reds were precisely £12.50 a packet when I quit. Today, depending on where you live and on where you buy your cigarettes, the price of a pack is already up to £2 more! A £2 increase in price in that short time! That's crazy! I derived hours and hours of pleasure from smoking cigarettes. Alas, at these prices, no longer.

Even though it goes against the narrative of the health Nazis, there are actually health benefits to smoking. Just as an example, smokers or ex-smokers, are far less likely to contract Parkinson’s disease. There might even be a link to inhibiting the development of Alzheimer’s disease! There are also other health benefits, one being that it inhibits the development of type-2 diabetes.

Sunak knows nothing of these things. He is living in darkness. He should keep out of it and stop interfering in people's private lives. He needs to start behaving like a true Conservative. – © Mark Alexander

Tobacco Sales Ban: PM Accused of "Creeping Prohibition"

FOREST: Forest has accused prime minister Rishi Sunak of “creeping prohibition” and treating future generations of adults like children.

Responding to the announcement that the government will raise the age of sale of tobacco by one year every year, Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ rights group Forest, said:

“These are desperate measures by a desperate prime minister.

“Raising the age of sale of tobacco is creeping prohibition, but it won’t stop young people smoking because prohibition doesn't work. Anyone who wants to smoke will buy tobacco abroad or from illicit sources. » | Forest | Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Banning sale of cigarettes to future generations "obscene": Forest has reacted with anger to a report that the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is 'considering introducing some of the world's toughest anti-smoking measures that would in effect ban the next generation from ever being able to buy cigarettes'. »

Ireland: Tobacco tax hike will "drive more smokers to the black market" »

Criminal Gangs Will Benefit!" Simon Clark HITS OUT At Rishi Sunak's New Smoking Regulations

Oct 5, 2023 | Simon Clark, director of pro-smoking group Forest, criticises Rishi Sunak's pledge to create a 'smoke-free generation.'

The Prime Minister has described his plan to increase the legal smoking age by one year annually as the “biggest public health intervention in a generation”. In his speech at the Conservative Party conference, Sunak said the legal age for buying tobacco should rise every year from 2009 to stop youngsters taking up smoking in a bid to “try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place”.

Clark says: "The only people who benefit from this are going to be the criminal gangs happy to sell cigarettes to children."


Chris Thomas is talking through his backside! Only Simon Clark spoke sense. It is an outrage that this unelected prime minister wants to take people's right to smoke away from them. If a young man is old enough to die for his country, he is old enough to smoke. End of story! – © Mark Alexander

Forest: Voice and friend of the smoker.

Politics and Prohibition: Should Smoking Be Banned for Good? | ThinkTent 2022

Smoking, it is said, costs the UK over £13bn a year. A potentially addictive habit that can damage people’s health, the Government wants England to be ‘smoke free’ by 2030. Now the market offers a range of reduced risk products, is it time to ban cigarettes for good or should the principles of choice and personal responsibility remain paramount?

I think you all know what I think of this stupid idea. I believe in free choice. I also don't believe that smoking is as bad as they say it is, particularly if one smokes in moderation and otherwise lives a healthy life by eating well, not drinking too much and sleeping well. – © Mark Alexander

On Smoking: Mark Littlewood in Conversation with Simon Clark

On 16th May 2019, to mark the 40th anniversary of the smokers' group FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco), Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, spoke to Forest director Simon Clark.

Smokefree: A Better Britain?

Talking Liberties webinar, 10th March 2021: 'Smokefree: A Better Britain?', featuring Andrew Allison, campaigns director, The Freedom Association; Liz Barber, friend of Forest and confirmed smoker; Mark Oates, director, We Vape and the Snus Users Association; tobacco investment analyst Rae Maile; and Simon Hills, former associated editor of The Times Magazine and author 'Strictly No! How We're Being Overrun by the Nanny State'. Is a smoke free Britain achievable let alone desirable? Join the conversation. 73 minutes, including audience interaction.

Mark Littlewood In Conversation with Simon Clark

On 16th May 2019, to mark the 40th anniversary of the smokers' group FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco), Mark Littlewood, director-general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, spoke to Forest director Simon Clark.