REGIONAL MEP Chris Davies supports an EU ruling that will continue to make electronic cigarettes readily available.

The European Parliament beat moves to class e-cigs as medicines, which could have restricted their availability. MEPs argued that e-cigs with a nicotine content of 20mg/l or less were just consumer products.

Liberal Democrat MEP Mr Davies believes they could be a game changer in the fight against smoking related disease that kills 700,000 Europeans each year.

He said: "This is a compromise that won't please everyone, but it's a huge improvement on the alternative of an e-cig ban that was threatened in some countries.

"We don't yet know the long term consequences of using e-cigs, but it must be likely that they will be healthier than the tobacco that we know is so damaging."

MEPs also agreed new rules to beef up the warnings on cigarette packs, with bigger pictures and harsher words for smokers. Health warnings will now take up 65% of the surface area of a cigarette packet after studies show that this has an impact on existing smokers and deters those who are thinking of starting.

He said: “Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you but the warnings hit home best when you have to take a cigarette out of a box that is warning you that they will kill you.

“Even if it only stops a few more people smoking that will mean a healthier life for them and those around them.”