Labour to bring back Smokefree Generation policy for 2026 election

Labour will reinstate its Smokefree Generation policy if returned to government after the 2026 election, health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall told a Health Coalition Aotearoa panel in Parliament. The policy would ban anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 from buying tobacco. The coalition government repealed the original 2022 law. The Greens and Te Pāti Māori back reinstatement.