A TORY peer proposed delaying plans for a ban on heated tobacco after enjoying a paid-for trip abroad to a leading cigarette firm’s research facility.

Tory former minister Ed — now Lord — Vaizey put forward an amendment to the tobacco and vapes Bill six weeks after his two-day visit to Philip Morris International’s facility in Neuchatel, Switzerland.

The transnational tobacco giant’s Iqos product is the world-leading heated tobacco brand; the Bill proposes phasing out tobacco by gradually raising the minimum age at which consumers can buy cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The peer’s amendment could disrupt this timetable by requiring more research to be done into the “potential” harms that such products can cause relative to cigarettes.

Philip Morris paid for Lord Vaizey’s flights and accommodation, according to his own parliamentary disclosures, though the cost of the trip on April 23 was not revealed.

Neither the peer nor Philip Morris said whether other British parliamentarians were there, the Guardian reported today.

Philip Morris and Lord Vaizey were contacted for comment.