Professor Gilmore:

Yes, absolutely. I think the primary legislation is important for the smoke-free generation and to help address smoking, particularly among young people, and to de-normalise smoking. We know from past measures that de-normalising smoking can be important. What is useful are the powers to introduce secondary legislation. We are dealing with quite a lot of uncertainty in this area, and evidence is emerging all the time. What is useful is the ability to introduce some legislation and then further legislation later depending on the impacts and as new evidence emerges.

What is key is getting that secondary legislation right. Obviously, it has the potential to reduce smoking and vaping. There is some balance to be had on vaping because we need to reduce vaping in never-smokers, particularly young people, but still allow e-cigarettes to be available for smokers who are using e-cigarettes to quit. It is important to remember that they are obviously not the only quit product. It is important that we do not lose sight of the role of pharmaceuticals, which are actually more important, but there are some smokers who do quit with vaping products. There is that balance. I am happy to talk in detail about some of the things that I think could or should be in those secondary regulations, if that helps.