A motion has been tabled in the House of Lords to annul the UK implementation of the EU’s new tobacco directive, which comes into effect tomorrow, potentially triggering a debate and a vote.

Motion SI 2015/507 was tabled by Lord Callanan, the former MEP and leader of the Conservatives in Europe. Callanan attempted to temper new regulations which included e-cigarettes, now enshrined as the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations of 2016 (PDF) while an MEP.

The motion calls for the TRP regulations to be annulled “on the grounds that its restrictions … were devised before evidence had accumulated that vaping was enabling many people to quit smoking”.

An online petition in support of Lord Callanan’s motion has collected almost 7,000 signatures in just two hours. ®