Drivers will, as of the 1st October 2015, no longer be allowed to smoke in their cars if they are carrying children as passengers.
Anyone caught flouting this new law could be fined up to £50 on the spot.
However the ban will NOT apply to anyone driving a convertible car with the top down.
Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "This is a tremendous victory.
"We urge the Government to show the same commitment to introduce standardised packaging for all tobacco products, in order to protect the 200,000 children taking up smoking every year in this country."
However Simon Clark, director of smokers' group Forest, disagreed, arguing that the new law was a prime example of the government becoming a nanny state.
He said: "The overwhelming majority of smokers know it’s inconsiderate to smoke in a car with children and they don’t do it. They don’t need the state micro-managing their lives.
"The police won’t be able to enforce the law on their own so the government will need a small army of snoopers to report people."
What do you think - should smoking in cars with children be banned? Or is this a case of legislation gone too far?
Join the debate via our comments box below now.
Do you think smoking in cars with children should be illegal?