Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said, “Today’s announcement puts us in pole position to be the first country in the world to end smoking. Smoking puts pressure on our NHS and social care system, but the greatest financial impact is the damage to our economy due to lost productivity.
“The measures announced today will play a major role in helping the government achieve its ambition to halve the difference in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions and deliver productivity growth in every part of the country.”
Phasing out the sale of tobacco is supported by more than two-thirds of adults (69 per cent) and 11–15-year-olds (67 per cent) who will be the first generation to whom the sale of tobacco will forever be banned. Most of the population in every constituency supports the legislation, with the highest level of support (74 per cent) in the prime minister’s constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.
An open letter to the prime minister and secretary of state calling for the legislation to be reintroduced without delay was signed by over 1,400 people including doctors, academics and healthcare workers.
Reactions to the announcement
Mum of three, Sue Mountain, from South Shields, began smoking at age 11. In 2012, a biopsy revealed she had laryngeal cancer, and she underwent laser treatment at age 48. The cancer then returned in 2015 and then again in 2017. Sue said, “I don’t want people in the future to go through the worry, the pain, the guilt and the loss of income I went through with smoking and cancer.
“It is appalling to think 160 families every day are devastated because of tobacco companies selling their lethal products – it is time for change. Our NHS is struggling, and the amount of people getting cancer because of tobacco is adding to this. This is why I am delighted that the ‘Tobacco and Vapes Bill’ will be a priority for this government. It will be wonderful for me to think my grandchildren will hopefully grow up into a world where smoking has become a thing of the past.”.
Steve Turner, RCPCH president, said, “This is a major milestone towards realising the government’s ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history. Stopping children and young people from starting to smoke will decrease their chance of developing preventable disease later in life. As paediatricians, we work day in and day out to support children’s health; we are clear that children should not become addicted to nicotine and youth vaping must be tackled. We now need MPs from across the new parliament to use the historic opportunity before them to support this bill when introduced and help protect our children’s and nations’ long-term health.”
Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, said, “Phasing out smoking will save thousands of lives, help protect the next generation from ever becoming addicted to this lethal product and do more to narrow the unacceptably large gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions than any other single measure.”
Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, said, “Smoking continues to devastate the nation’s health, taking at least 15,000 lives in the UK every year due to cardiovascular disease alone.
“Today's announcement will help to save countless lives and we urge the government to reintroduce the ‘Tobacco and Vapes Bill’ to parliament without delay.”
Linda Bauld, director of the Spectrum public health research consortium, said, “The UK is ideally placed to be the first country to phase out smoking forever, with the strong support of all the devolved nations. The ‘Tobacco and Vapes Bill’ will also ensure our governments also have the powers they need to curb youth vaping while ensuring nicotine vapes remain accessible to adults so people who smoke have access to the most effective quitting aid.
“We have a world class academic community carrying out cutting-edge research on tobacco and vaping. Our research teams can monitor the impact of the legislation once implemented and ensure that any changes needed to improve the impact of the legislation can be identified and put in place in a timely manner.”