MPs have voted in favour of new legislation which will ban smoking in all school and mbo college playgrounds from 2020.

At the moment, almost half of secondary schools and nearly all mbo colleges allow smoking outside the school premises. Attempts to ban smoking at schools in 2000 failed to gather enough support.

‘This is a major step forward in improving the health of our children,’ said MP Carla Dik Faber of the ChristenUnie, which drew up the draft bill.

The sale of cigarettes to the under-18s has been banned in the Netherlands for two years.

According to figures from the Trimbos addiction institute, 24% of Dutch teenagers aged 14 to 17 smoke and 12% do so on a daily basis. By the time they reach 18, one-quarter are smoking every day.