Burnham in diplomatic row with Cuba over cigar ban
Andy Burnham is embroiled in a diplomatic row with Cuba over Britain’s looming ban on cigars, The Telegraph can reveal.
Leaked diplomatic correspondence shows the ambassadors of the Republic of Cuba, Honduras and the Dominican Republic have been writing to the Government since 2024 with concerns about plans for a “smoke-free Britain”.
They have said the incoming generational smoking ban enacted by Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister, will “disproportionately impact cigar-producing countries” and would amount to an “unjustified barrier to trade”.
But repeated attempts to seek a carve-out for cigars, which the Caribbean nations claim “neither contribute to youth smoking initiation nor share the same public health profile as cigarettes”, have come to an apparent impasse.
Diplomatic staff are understood to have become increasingly frustrated following an apparent breakdown in communications and, in particular, that a junior health minister had responded to a letter addressed to Sir Keir Starmer at the end of last year.
A source familiar with the row, which has now been inherited by Mr Burnham, said there had been no response to the latest letters of concern since the middle of February.
“It is highly unusual for a prime minister to delegate the response of a letter to a government department, and this was met with consternation by the embassies who consider themselves trading partners and friends of the UK,” they said.
Cuba is heavily reliant on the cigar industry, exporting as many as 60 million every year – Adalberto Roque/Getty
Cuba is currently in the grips of an economic crisis and has been plunged into repeated energy blackouts following an American-led oil blockade. Cigars are one of the country’s biggest exports.
The row centres on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which gained royal assent in April, making it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009.
It is understood the rift has deepened after Labour opened a consultation on extending plain packaging to premium cigars last month, in a fresh blow to the industry, which sources claimed would be wiped out in the UK in a matter of years under the proposal.
Cuba previously filed a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Australia’s plain packaging regulations. The WTO ruled in Australia’s favour in 2018.
Now, in letters to British counterparts, from Downing Street to the Foreign Office and the departments for health and trade, Caribbean diplomats have accused ministers of lumping cigars in with cigarettes and vapes “through measures that are not justified by evidence”.
They said the legislation did not “adequately take into account” the “historical, cultural and economic” significance of cigar production across poor parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, adding that cigar production sustained “the livelihoods of more than 400,000 people… many of them women and smallholder farmers in rural communities”.
One letter read: “For our countries, this industry represents not only a source of dignified employment and economic stability but also a vital element of our cultural heritage, just as Scotch whisky, English dry gin, or traditional Welsh cider are to the United Kingdom.”
The Dominican Republic is understood to feel particularly aggrieved, being a significant buyer of Scotch whisky.
The document was signed by ambassadors of Cuba, Honduras and the Dominican Republic
The health ministry has hit back, however, disputing claims that the justification for including cigars in its smoking restrictions was based on flawed data.
In letters seen by The Telegraph, Britain told its allies that tobacco was a “uniquely harmful product” and that “our position is that any form of tobacco use is harmful to people of any age”.
“Exempting certain tobacco products would create loopholes to continue to addict future generations to harmful products… The UK values its trade relationship with Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Honduras.”
No 10 declined to comment on the row. It instead pointed to earlier government comments on plain packaging for cigars, which it said were “part of our effort to tackle a habit that remains the single leading causes of preventable death, disability, and ill health in this country”.
The embassies of Cuba, Honduras and the Dominican Republic were approached for comment.