Andy Burnham embroiled in row with Cuba as 'smoke-free Britain' plans put cigar trade at risk

Andy Burnham has entered a diplomatic row with Cuba as "smoke-free Britain" plans put cigar trade at risk.

Diplomatic correspondence between ambassadors of the Republic of Cuba, Honduras and the Dominican Republic have been writing to the Government since 2024 with concerns about the generational smoking ban.

Concerns were raised by the countries after Rishi Sunak introduced his generational smoking ban in 2023, which will come into effect on January 1 2027 and ban all those born on or after 2009 from buying tobacco products.

The Caribbean nations argued the ban would "disproportionately impact cigar-producing countries" and pose an "unjustified barrier to trade", according to leaked diplomatic correspondence seen by The Telegraph.

Talks to introduce a carve-out for cigars, which they claim "neither contribute to youth smoking initiation nor share the same public health profile as cigarettes", have come to a standstill.

It is said diplomatic staff from the Caribbean nations became increasingly frustrated after a letter addressed to Sir Keir Starmer was responded to by a junior health minister.

A source familiar with the diplomatic spat said no response had been given to the latest letters, sent in middle of February.

"It is highly unusual for a Prime Minister to delegate the response of a letter to a government department, and this was met with consternation by the embassies who consider themselves trading partners and friends of the UK," the source said.

The row is said to have heightened after Labour opened a consultation last month on extending plain packaging to all tobacco products, including vapes and premium cigars.

Founder of the Save Cigars campaign Phil Buckthorpe told GB News changes to cigar packaging would harm Britain's cigar industry.

He said: "The problem is, the manufacturers and the distributors of the cigars are unlikely to continue to ship them to the UK if they have to do this repackaging.

"So while people may think: 'I'll still get my cigars, they're just going to be packaged differently'.

"The reality is, a lot of the product lines won't make it to the UK anymore."

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Mr Buckthorpe added that Britain's 120 specialist tobacconist shops would be directly harmed by the change, putting jobs at risk.

Cuba had previously filed a formal complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against Australia's plain packaging resolutions - the body ruled in favour of Australia in 2018.

Caribbean diplomats have now accused Downing Street of treating cigars the same way as cigarettes and vapes through "measures that are not justified by evidence".

The Government was accused of not properly considering the "historical, cultural and economic" importance of cigar production in poor parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, adding that cigar production sustained "the livelihoods of more than 400,000 people... many of them women and smallholder farmers in rural communities".

One letter reads: "For our countries, this industry represents not only a source of dignified employment and economic stability but also a vital element of our cultural heritage, just as Scotch whisky, English dry gin, or traditional Welsh cider are to the United Kingdom."

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) rebuffed claims that including cigars in smoking restrictions was based on flawed data.

Britain told allies tobacco was a "uniquely harmful product" and its "position is that any form of tobacco use is harmful to people of any age".

"Exempting certain tobacco products would create loopholes to continue to addict future generations to harmful products... The UK values its trade relationship with Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Honduras," it added.

A DHSC spokesman said: "We are currently consulting on plain packaging requirements for all tobacco products, as part of our effort to tackle a habit that remains the single leading cause of preventable death, disability, and ill health in this country."