Sharp rise in vaping among young adults who never regularly smoked

Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of campaign group Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said the findings could be a cause for concern and suggested focusing on reducing the appeal of vapes would be the best way to limit the use of vapes in non-smokers.

“The aggressive marketing of products to young people means the government urgently needs to bring back the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, to regulate vape flavours, marketing and branding,” she said.

Peter Hajek, professor of clinical psychology, at Queen Mary University of London, said: “The just-released figures from the Office for National Statistics show that UK smoking prevalence is under 12%, an all-time low.

“If much less risky alternatives are allowed to continue to compete with cigarettes, smoking – and heart disease, lung disease and cancers that it causes – will continue to decline as well.

“The UK and USA, which allow vaping, have seen significantly faster declines in cigarette sales and in smoking among young and low-income people than Australia, which bans vaping. “