Smoking in a car carrying children will become a criminal offence after MPs last night backed a ban in the Commons by a large majority.

In an historic vote, Tory and Lib Dem MPs backed plans to make it illegal to light up in a car in England, punishable by a £60 fine or points on a motorist’s licence.



It came after Prime Minister David Cameron the ’time has come’ for a ban, brushing aside claims from his Lib Dem deputy Nick Clegg who branded the ban illiberal and unenforceable.



MPs have overwhelmingly backed a bill which will make smoking in cars containing children illegal by next year

The new law will apply to anyone carrying children in a car, not just parents.

MPs voted by 376 votes to 107, majority 269, in favour of an amendment to the Children and Families Bill which gives the Health Secretary power to impose a ban.



It is expected to come into effect before the election, most likely in April next year.



The move was first introduced in the House of Lords by the Labour party, and coalition parties were given a free vote which means they can vote with their conscience and not the party line.



During 90 minutes of debate in the Commons supporters of the legislation insisted it was vital to protect children from the dangers of second hand smoke.



Tory health minister Jane Ellison said the success of the new law would be measured not by the number of fines issues but ’by the reduction in exposure to second-hand smoke’.



Labour's shadow health minister Luciana Berger Labour MP Luciana Berger proposed the ban, arguing that laws governing seat belts and smoking in public places were criticised as unenforceable but had been very effective.

She said last night: ‘This is a great victory for child health which will benefit hundreds of thousands of young people across our country. It is a matter of child protection, not adult choice.’



Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (pictured visiting Burrowbridge in Somerset this morning) branded the law unenforceable and illiberal

Mr Clegg said the police could not be expected to enforce a ban on smoking in cars, likening it to controlling what children eat or watch on TV

But opponents said it was further evidence if the ’nanny state’ seeking to interfere in the private lives of drivers.

Tory MP Anne Main condemned the ’illiberal, nonsensical legislation’ adding: ’I fundamentally believe we should not be making bad, unenforceable law.’

Fellow Conservative, Shipley MP, Philip Davies said the law was ’yet another in a long line of triumphs for the nanny state’.

He accused Miss Berger of representing the ’smug, patronising excesses of New Labour who think that the only reason they have come into Parliament is to ban everybody else from all the things that they don't happen to like themselves’.

Just hours before tonight’s vote Mr Cameron gave the ban is support.

Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury said he would back the ban, putting him at odds with Nick Clegg

London Mayor Boris Johnson said the 'bossyboots brigade' were right to want to ban smoking in cars carrying children

Three years ago the Prime Minister said he was 'not sure whether it is possible to legislate in that area' and called for a 'change in attitudes'.



earlier today Lib Dem health minister Norman Lamb said he hoped the ban would be law before the 2015 general election

But today Downing Street made clear that while Mr Cameron understands the ’concerns’ that some have expressed, he believes that ’the time for this kind of approach has come’.

However, Mr Cameron is spending 24 hours touring flood-hit communities in the South West so missed the vote.

Among Tories, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Education Secretary Michael Give were among senior ministers supporting a ban.

London Mayor Boris Johnson appealed to fellow Tories to accept that the 'bossyboots brigade' he so often rails against were right in this case.

’These kids cannot protest, and very often the smoker in the vehicle lacks the will to stub it out,’ he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

’This law would give that smoker that extra legal imperative to obey their conscience and do the right thing.'

Ahead of the vote senior Tories including Eric Pickles and Kenneth Clarke voiced doubts about it.

Among Lib Dems, Mr Clegg - who is a smoker - said that ‘as an old-fashioned liberal’ he believed that ‘laws and legislation are not always the solution’.

He said it was wrong to ‘subcontract responsible parenting to the state’ and likened it to the police going ‘into people’s homes and saying “turn the televisions off”’.