MPs urge the government to listen to voters and deliver a Smokefree 2030

In a Westminster Hall debate on June 20, 2023, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health called on the Government to listen to the voters and make Big Tobacco pay to deliver a Smokefree 2030. Three-quarters of adults support the government’s smokefree 2030 ambition, but analysis by Cancer Research UK shows that on current trends, England won’t be smokefree until 2039.

Bob Blackman, chairman of the APPG and MP for Harrow East, told parliament, “The measures recently put forward by the government to achieve a smokefree 2030 are welcome, but insufficiently ambitious, providing only a quarter of the funding called for by the government’s own independent review last year. Meanwhile, Big Tobacco continues to make extreme profits selling highly addictive, lethal products. A levy on the industry is popular, feasible and supported by voters of all political persuasions as well as the majority of tobacco retailers. The manufacturers have the money, they should be made to pay to end the epidemic.”

Three-quarters (77 per cent) of the public support making tobacco manufacturers pay, including those voting Conservative (75 per cent), Labour (82 per cent) and Liberal Democrat (87 per cent) at the last general election.

There is overwhelming public support, and little opposition, for a wide range of policies, including licences for businesses selling tobacco (83 per cent), putting health warnings on cigarettes (66 per cent support and 10 per cent oppose) and banning smoking in all cars (66 per cent support, 16 per cent oppose). Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) support raising the age of sale from 18 to 21 (65 per cent Conservative, 66 per cent Labour and 67 per cent Liberal Democrat voters surveyed).

There are high levels of support for tougher vaping regulations, with three-quarters of the public supporting banning names of sweets, cartoons and bright colours on e-cigarettes, and the same proportion supporting banning, advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes at point-of-sale (at the till, in stores and as people enter shops).

Mary Kelly Foy MP, vice chair of the APPG, MP for the City of Durham and co-sponsor of the debate said, “Last year, I tabled amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill which would have laid the foundations for the comprehensive tobacco control plan the government committed to deliver. Despite strong cross party support, the government refused to accept the amendments. Recent announcements recognise the need to act on vaping, but not for sustainable funding or tougher regulation on smoking too. This piecemeal approach is not good enough, a comprehensive Tobacco Control Plan with ambition, scope and funding is essential to turbocharge our progress towards a smokefree 2030, while curbing the youth vaping epidemic.”