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The All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health is seeking tougher tobacco regulations to protect children and young people from becoming smokers and help smokers quit, including raising the legal age for cigarettes and putting health warnings on cigarettes.
The group has warned the government that it can only build back “better and fairer” from the pandemic by making smoking obsolete and has called on the government to commit to the actions needed to secure its vision of a Smokefree 2030.
In a report, published today (9 June), the group also recommends that funding for tobacco control programmes be secured through a ‘polluter pays’ amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, forcing manufacturers to pay to deliver the end of smoking.
In addition, it suggests that targeted investment should be used to provide additional support to help smokers quit in regions and communities where smoking does most damage, including those who are unemployed; living in social housing; with a mental health condition; and pregnant smokers.
Bob Blackman, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, said: “Our report sets out measures which will put us on track to achieve the Government’s ambition to end smoking by 2030, but they can’t be delivered without funding. Tobacco manufacturers make extreme profits selling highly addictive, lethal products, while government coffers are bare because of Covid-19. The manufacturers have the money, they should be made to pay to end the epidemic.”
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, added: “We all applauded when the government announced its ambition for a Smokefree 2030, but that was two years ago, the time has now come to deliver.”
The report and its recommendations have been endorsed by leading health organisations including the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Association of Directors of Public Health, Asthma UK, the British Heart Foundation, the British Lung Foundation, the British Thoracic Society, Cancer Research UK, the Faculty of Public Health, the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, the Health Foundation, the Royal Society of Public Health and the Royal College of Physicians.
