BBC Scotland has been asked if it will issue a correction after a glaring gaffe about the former prime minister Boris Johnson.

On the Reporting Scotland programme on Tuesday evening, the BBC reported that Johnson had been among the Conservative MPs to vote against Rishi Sunak’s move to ban smoking forever for anyone born in 2009 or later.

The BBC host told viewers: “MPs have overwhelmingly backed plans to ban anyone born after 2009 from ever buying cigarettes, effectively ensuring it will become law.

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“The legislation championed by the Prime Minister aims to create a smoke-free generation.

“However, several high-profile Conservative MPs voted against the measures, including Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, or abstained, including the Scottish Secretary Alister Jack.”

While Truss did vote against the bill and Jack did abstain, Johnson has not been an MP since June 2023.

The former Tory leader resigned his seat in disgrace ten months ago after being found to have repeatedly and deliberately misled parliament over the partygate scandal.

The pro-independence Twitter account MSM Monitor highlighted the incident on social media.

It said the BBC had told “Reporting Scotland viewers that Boris Johnson was one of the senior Conservative MPs to vote against the smoking ban”.

“Really? Johnson resigned as an MP last June,” the account went on.

“Maybe time to stop obsessing about JK Rowling's tweets and instead focus on actual news.”

The BBC has been asked for comment and if it will be issuing a correction.

Johnson has spoken against the ban on smoking, telling a Conservative conference in Canada that it was “absolutely nuts" for the “the party of Winston Churchill [to want] to ban cigars”.

In the Commons on Tuesday evening, MPs voted 383 to 67, majority 316, to give the Tobacco and Vapes Bill a second reading.

The legislation, seen by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a key part of his long-term legacy, would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born after January 1, 2009, with the aim of creating a “smoke-free” generation.

It does not criminalise current smokers, but is aimed at preventing the harms caused by smoking, one of the leading causes of preventable illness and death in the UK.

Conservative MPs were given a free vote on the bill, meaning those who voted against the Government’s position will not face punishment.

This allowed serving ministers, including Business Secretary and future Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch, to publicly reveal they would vote to reject the bill.

“The principle of equality under the law is a fundamental one. It underpins many of my personal beliefs,” Badenoch wrote on Twitter/X ahead of the vote.

“We should not treat legally competent adults differently in this way, where people born a day apart will have permanently different rights.”

Another potential contender to run for the Tory leadership, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, also came out against the policy.

He tweeted: “I believe in personal freedom. Let’s educate more and ban less.

“I also believe in the principle of equality under the law. A phased ban of smoking would be an affront to that. I will therefore vote against the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.”

They were joined by Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who said she hoped MPs could “make amendments which will make it law which will be more likely to actually deter young smokers without removing freedom of choice for adults”.

The division list showed 57 Conservative MPs voted against giving the Tobacco and Vapes Bill a second reading, while 178 voted to support it.

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A total of 106 Conservative MPs, including Scots Tory leader Douglas Ross and Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, abstained.

Several serving ministers voted against, including Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart, Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, culture minister Julia Lopez, and communities minister Lee Rowley.

However, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting confirmed Labour’s “wholehearted” support to the bill, and added his party is “only too happy to defend the Health Secretary against the siren voices of big tobacco” gathered on the Tory benches.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said she understood colleagues’ concerns about freedom of choice, and conceded Conservatives were “not in the habit of banning things”, but warned the Commons there was “no liberty in addiction”.