With growing speculation that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is planning to announce a new vaping tax in Wednesday’s budget, the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) Director General appeared live on GB News this morning to discuss the issue.

John Dunne told Britain’s Newsroom presenters Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner that vaping was already taxed at 20% VAT and subject to additional import duties while nicotine-containing patches attracted just 5% VAT.

“Entrepreneurs solved a problem that the health care industry failed with for decades and vaping is now the most popular way to quit smoking in the country.

“This is nothing more than an attack on smoking cessation and it hits those with the lowest incomes especially hard as the highest smoking rates are in the most economically deprived parts of the UK.”

John rejected claims that higher taxes were needed to protect young people from vaping and said the problem was that the current laws were not being enforced, an issue the UKVIA has been highlighting to Government for many years.