More than two million people in the UK use e-cigarettes

Doctors should tell smokers that e-cigarettes are safer than tobacco, NHS guidance will say for the first time after a compromise over conflicting advice.

Vaping is “substantially” less harmful than smoking and GPs should ensure patients know this, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has accepted.

However, it stops short of saying that doctors should actively recommend e-cigarettes amid continuing uncertainty over their long-term impact.

The guidance is designed to end confusion after Public Health England (PHE) announced TV adverts last year encouraging the use of e-cigarettes on the same day that Nice said they could not be recommended.

More than two million people in the UK use e-cigarettes, which give a nicotine hit without the tobacco, which causes cancer. However, some