Only two in five adults think the bill that will ban the sale of tobacco to all future generations of adults in the UK is important.

According to a recent poll, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which moves to the committee stage in the House of Lords on October 27, was rated ninth out of ten government bills that are currently progressing through parliament.

Conducted by Yonder Consulting for the smokers’ rights group Forest, 71% of respondents said the Crime and Policing Bill was the most important, followed by the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (69%), and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (68%).

The least important bills, according to the survey of over 2,000 adults, were the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which was rated important by 42% of respondents, and the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill (28%).

The survey also invited respondents to think about government priorities and rate ten issues according to their current importance. 88% said improving the health service, 87% said addressing the cost of living, and 80% care for the elderly.

These issues were followed in order of importance by national security (79%), the housing crisis (75%), and tackling illegal immigration (74%). In contrast, only two in five respondents (39%) said tackling smoking was important, and of those only 17% said tackling smoking was very important.

Simon Clark, director of Forest, said:

“Contrary to what the stop smoking brigade would have us believe, further anti-smoking measures are not on most people’s wish list.

“When there are so many more important issues to address, it demonstrates how out of touch this Labour government is.

“If ministers had any respect for ordinary people, they would put their ideological hatred of tobacco to one side and focus on the issues that really matter to voters.”