Minister: “Jersey to follow UK in fag brand ban”

Monday 26 January 2015

Jersey’s Health Minister has pledged to follow the UK government’s move to ban cigarette branding.

Senator Andrew Green says that if the vote to ban cigarette branding goes through ahead of the election on 7 May – which looks likely, after last week’s shock announcement – then he wants Jersey to follow suit with a plain packaging law before the 2018 elections here.

“For me, if the UK do that, it is quite likely that we will follow,” said Senator Green.

“In some ways we are leading the way on this, in terms of not allowing smoking in cars with children.

“I would expect it to happen before I finish this term as Health Minister. It would be a difficult thing for us to do on our own, but if the UK do it, it’s different.”

With the main political parties in agreement on the subject, it is likely that the proposal for the ban would go through parliament to be enforced next year. The only potential sticking point is the likelihood of lengthy legal action by cigarette manufacturers, which could drag the subject out for months or even years.