ANTI-smoking campaigners in the region have welcomed plans to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s.

Fiona Andrews, director of Smokefree South West – a body created to reduce smoking rates across the region – said: “We support the Government decision to make it illegal to sell e-cigarettes to under-18s.

"The market for these products is growing rapidly, supported by advertising and promotion. Regulated e-cigs are likely to be less harmful than smoked tobacco because they avoid the damaging cocktail of chemicals in smoke. However, we still don’t want young people in the South West to get addicted to nicotine.”