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Save Vaping Fight the vaping ban
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About the campaign

About Save Vaping

Save Vaping is a campaign organised by the New Nicotine Alliance to oppose the UK government's proposal to ban vaping and heated tobacco use in public places and to help supporters respond clearly through the consultation and their MP.

Write to your MP

Save Vaping is a campaign organised by the New Nicotine Alliance to oppose the UK government’s proposal to ban vaping and heated tobacco use in public places in England. We believe the proposal is wrong in principle and wrong in practice.

At its simplest, the campaign is making one argument: public policy on vaping and heated tobacco products should be based on evidence, proportionality, and harm reduction, not on political pressure to make these products look or feel like smoking.

What we are opposing

The current consultation proposes extending smoke-free style restrictions so that indoor places where smoking is already prohibited also become vape-free and heated tobacco free by law.

That would be a major change for people who vape or use heated tobacco products, those who are thinking of switching from combustible tobacco, the businesses that serve them, and the wider public understanding of harm reduction. It would cover workplaces, pubs, clubs, and specialist shops, regardless of whether there is any clear scientific case for doing so.

Why we oppose the proposed ban

Save Vaping is making four linked arguments.

  • It is bad for health because it could push some people back towards smoking and deter smokers from switching to reduced-risk alternatives.
  • It is not supported by credible evidence that secondhand vapour is harming bystanders, and the available evidence on heated tobacco does not justify treating these products like smoking.
  • It is bad for business because venues and retailers would have to pay for, sign, and enforce a law with no economic benefit.
  • It is unfair and illiberal because it would remove freedom from adults and business owners without a proportionate justification.

What the campaign wants people to do

The first phase of the campaign is focused on two actions:

  • respond to the public consultation and share your lived experience
  • write to your MP using the example text as a starting point and ask them to oppose the proposal

That combination matters. Consultation responses help create a formal record of opposition. MP contact helps show that the issue has a constituency-level political cost.

What experts say

These statements support the case against treating vaping and heated tobacco like smoking in law.

"e-cigarette use is not covered by smokefree legislation and should not routinely be included in the requirements of an organisation's smokefree policy."

Public Health England, Use of e-cigarettes in public places and workplaces (2016)

"Distinguish between smoking and vaping: Conflating vaping with smoking is harmful to health."

Martin Dockrell, Tobacco Control Lead, Public Health England

"It is very important that smokefree legislation does not include vaping. Vaping is a harm reduction approach for adult smokers trying to quit smoking. Policies that deal with smoking and vaping in the same way send a very confusing message."

Professor Caitlin Notley, Professor of Addiction Sciences, Lifespan Health Research Centre, University of East Anglia

"Helping people switch from smoking to vaping should be considered a priority if the Government is to achieve a smoke-free 2030 in England."

Dr Debbie Robson, Senior Lecturer in Tobacco Harm Reduction, King's IoPPN, King's College London

"While health risks of e-cigarettes to vapers themselves have been estimated at up to 5% of health risks of smoking, health risks to bystanders are most likely reduced by a much bigger margin, and most likely altogether. This is because e-cigarettes release no chemicals into the environment themselves, only what users exhale, and such exhalation has so far not been shown to generate any toxicants at levels that could conceivably affect the health of bystanders."

Professor Peter Hajek, Director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, Queen Mary University of London

"However, if this approach also makes e-cigarettes less easily accessible, less palatable or acceptable, more expensive, less consumer friendly or pharmacologically less effective, or inhibits innovation and development of new and improved products, then it causes harm by perpetuating smoking."

Royal College of Physicians, Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction (2016)