NEARLY 200 jobs were secured when proposals to effectively ban e-cigarettes were vetoed by MEPs.

The proposed regulation would have seen all currently available electronic cigarettes classified as medicinal products and taken off the market in 2016.

The move could have threatened the jobs of 180 people employed by three booming East Lancashire firms.

But MEPs voted against the idea, which would have also seen flavoured e-cigarettes outlawed.

Fraser Cropper, chief executive officer of Totally Wicked, which has factories in Blackburn and Altham and employs 90 people, said: “I am delighted that MEPs have listened to the voices of millions of e-cigarette users and public health professionals across the EU, who have been campaigning tirelessly over many months to ensure that sanity prevailed.

“E-cigarettes have the potential to be one of the great transformational products of the 21st century. By allowing the maturity of the industry within a strong regulatory framework, which supports appropriate controls and safety requirements, and its necessary social responsibility, is a mandate that is entirely appropriate and one which Totally Wicked endorses fully.”

Liberty Flights, of Grimshaw Street, Darwen, and CN Creative, which expanded from Accrington into new premises in Phoenix Park, Blackburn, employ 90 people between them.

Tony Collinge, of Barnoldswick and Colne’s Go4Smoke, said: “If people handle them responsibly I don’t think it needs regulating in any way.

“There should be more restrictions with buying online because anybody under the age of 18 can buy and get e-cigarettes.”