Around two-thirds of the public support the government raising the legal age to buy cigarettes, tobacco or cigarette papers by one year, every year

The public generally support the recent policy to increase the legal age for buying cigarettes and tobacco by one year, every year. Around two-thirds (69%) support the government raising the legal age to buy cigarettes, tobacco or cigarette papers by one year, every year, until no one in future generations is legally allowed to buy such products.

Technical note

The survey was conducted between 23rd and 29th November 2023 using Ipsos's UK KnowledgePanel, a random probability online panel. We surveyed 2,301 people aged 16 years and older in the UK. The sample was stratified by nation and education and delivered a response rate of 54%. A weighting spec was applied to the data in line with the target sample profile; this included one which corrected for unequal probabilities of selection of household members (to account for two members who may have been selected from one household), and weights for region, an interlocked variable of Gender by Age, Education, Ethnicity, Index of Multiple Deprivation (quintiles), and number of adults in the household.