Have your say on how vapes and cigarettes look in Cornwall shops

Walk into most corner shops and the vape wall is hard to miss, rows of bright colours lined up behind the counter like sweets. The government wants to know whether that should change, and it is asking people in Cornwall to weigh in before the chance closes.

What the consultation actually covers

The Department of Health and Social Care has opened a public consultation on the packaging, appearance and retail display of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products. It covers three things: the packaging used for cigarette papers, herbal smoking products, heated tobacco devices and vapes, the physical appearance of heated tobacco devices and vapes themselves, and where in a shop these products can be displayed.

The stated goal is to reduce how appealing these products look, particularly to children and young people, while still making sure adult smokers can access vapes as a way to quit. Anyone can respond, not just people directly affected by the rules. Members of the public, health organisations, retailers and local authorities are all invited, and the proposals apply right across the UK, developed jointly with the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Why Healthy Cornwall is pushing it

Healthy Cornwall, the Cornwall Council service that runs local stop-smoking support and healthy lifestyle programmes, shared the consultation and is encouraging residents to take part. It sits within the council’s wider public health work, alongside the weight management, healthy eating and healthy pregnancy support it already offers across the county.

The consultation runs until 11.59pm on Friday 2 October, after which the responses will feed into how the rules are actually written.

The bigger law this sits inside

This consultation is part of the rollout of the Tobacco and Vapes Act, which received royal assent in April 2026 and is often described as the biggest public health law change in a generation. The headline measure is a rolling age limit rather than a fixed one. From 1 January 2027 it will be illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, and that cut-off point never moves, so the restricted group only grows year on year.

The Act also hands ministers the power to regulate exactly what this consultation is asking about: the flavours, branding, packaging and retail display of vapes and nicotine products, alongside a ban on their advertising and sponsorship. Disposable vapes were already banned from sale across the UK from June 2025, aimed at cutting both the litter they leave behind and their appeal to younger buyers.

How to have your say

Responses can be submitted through the consultation’s online survey, and it stays open until the close date. Whether that eventually means plain packets on the shelf, vapes kept out of sight behind the counter, or something else entirely will not be settled until the department has worked through what people actually said.

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