Smoking: Prime minister Rishi Sunak's plan to ban cigarettes with age rise each year

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to raise the age people can buy cigarettes by one year every year in the future "so that eventually no one can buy them" he said.

If his plans become law the United Kingdom (UK) could end up having some of the toughest rules around smoking in the world.

The new laws would mean a 14-year-old today can never legally be sold a cigarette.

According to the NHS smoking is one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK.

"When we raised the smoking age to 18, smoking prevalence dropped by 30% in that age group," Mr Sunak said at a Conservative party conference on Wednesday.

"When the United States raised the age to 21, the smoking rate dropped by 39% in that age group.

The prime minister went on to say "Smoking places huge pressures on the NHS and costs our country £17bn a year.

"We have a chance to cut cancer deaths by a quarter, significantly ease those pressures and protect our children, and we should take it."

The prime minister made it clear he would not force Conservative MPs to vote for his plans to change the smoking laws.

"The vote on this in parliament will be a free vote, as the ban on smoking in public places was and raising the smoking age to 18 was," he said.

New Zealand introduced similar rules to those put forward by Mr Sunak at the end of last year.

It means the age of of those who are able to smoke in the country will steadily raise.

It's thought to be the first nation in the world to pass legislation like this and it also means children who are 14 and under will never be able to legally buy cigarettes.

During the Conservative party conference, Mr Sunak also said he wants to tackle "one of the most worrying trends...vaping among children".

Many people are worried about the number of children in the UK using vapes - because of the potential damage to health and addiction to nicotine - and it's something the prime minister has previously expressed concerns about.

"We'll also bring forward measures to restrict the availability of vapes to our children," the prime minister said. "Looking at flavours, packaging, displays and disposable vapes."

A consultation was launched by the government in April this year, with the aim finding ways to reduce the number of children using vapes in England.

A big concern about young people using vapes illegally is that we don't know the long-term effects on health - because there isn't enough research yet.

Newsround spoke to Dr Ian Sinha, a respiratory doctor at Alder Hey Children's hospital, who told us vaping could potentially be damaging to children's lungs because they are still developing.

He added: "We worry about children getting addicted to nicotine, which is the chemical in vapes, in case that leads them on to other things like cigarettes."

In September senior members of the Welsh government called for a UK-wide ban on disposable vapes - a move the Scottish government is also considering.