Proposed tighter controls on advertising and sale of tobacco received broad support from Douglas councillors.
The changes, contained in a draft bill and government consultation document, include a ban on tobacco displays, tighter controls on tobacco advertising and a ban on selling tobacco products from vending machines.
Legislators are also proposing to introduce fixed penalty fines which would apply to smoking offences, including proposed new legislation to ban smoking in vehicles when passengers include children.
However Councillor David Ashford said despite being a non-smoker he thought the proposals went over the top: ‘Voting against this does not mean I am against campaigns to get people to stop smoking,’ he said.
‘It just means I am against a nanny state deciding what people do with what is in effect a legal product. Vending machines tend to be in places that already have an age limit. Tobacco is also an income stream for the government and hiding it away creates a whole mysticism for children.’
Council Leader David Christian disagreed: ‘It’s not a nanny state. It’s a step forward that can deter people from smoking.’