Our Head Pupils visit Westminster to assist in creating a smoke free generation and tackling youth vaping.
Malet Lambert Head pupils, Freya and Selina, were invited to The Houses of Parliament on Wednesday 13th March to attend an event supporting the government’s proposals to raise the legal smoking age gradually with the aim to create a smokefree generation.
Smoking tobacco has been linked to a quarter of all cancer related deaths, and the related health care burden can cost the economy billions of pounds a year.
Under these proposals, the age of sale for tobacco products will be raised by one year each year to prevent future generations from ever taking up smoking, as there is no safe age to smoke. The subject of vaping was also a hot topic.
Under the government’s plan, young people who are turning 15 this will never be able to purchase tobacco products. These changes would be brought in alongside a commitment to make smoking alternatives, such as vaping, unappealing to young people.
Earlier this term, our PLT ran a survey with pupils to gather their thoughts and opinions on smoking and the related concerns. Freya and Selina took the results of this survey with them to London, as evidence of the position of the young people in our community.
“We saw and interacted with people such as Karl Turner (MP for Hull East) and Keir Starmer (Leader of the Labour Party) and listened to some harrowing stories from smoking survivors.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the PLT survey as we used this to reflect the voices of the young people in Hull.”
Freya and Selina