John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that a ban would “fuel” illegal sales.

“We have a black market in vaping products already that the authorities can’t really keep up [with], so now this is going to be dropped right on their lap as well,” he said.

Mr Dunne said the association had called on the government to alternatively introduce a licensing scheme for retailers and distributors of the products, “which will include things like mandatory age verification processes”.

The government plans to introduce legislation to ban the sale of disposable vapes from 1 June 2025, allowing retailers time to sell their remaining stock.

The devolved governments have previously announced an intention to bring in similar bans, and the UK government said it was working with them to align the dates on which the bans come into force.

Welsh Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said introducing the bans on the same date across the nations would enable “high levels of compliance and consistent approach to enforcement across the UK”.

The measure is separate from government plans to end smoking by banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after January 2009.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Monday a bill to enact that ban would be introduced to parliament before Christmas.