Children aged 17 or younger in the UK will face a lifelong ban on buying cigarettes, as Parliament agrees on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Both the Commons and Lords have settled on a final draft of the legislation, which is designed to stop people who were born on or after January 1 2009 from ever taking up smoking.
It prohibits the sale of tobacco products to those born after 2008.
The bill now awaits royal assent, the final stage of rule making that will formally make the bill into law. A date for royal assent has not yet been set.
When the bill receives royal assent, ministers will also get new powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging.
“It is a landmark Bill, it will create a smoke-free generation," Health minister Baroness Merron told the Lords on Monday.
“It is, in fact, the biggest public health intervention in a generation and I can assure all noble Lords it will save lives.”
Lord Naseby, a Conservative former MP, said the Tobacco and Vapes Bill “does upset a great many people in that industry”, including retailers.
“What we really need is a proper understanding of how we educate people not to take up smoking,” he added.
In response, Lady Merron said: “I can overall assure Lord Naseby, as I’ve done on a number of occasions, about how closely we have worked with retailers, and we will continue to do so.”