“No more delay – we need a Tobacco Control Plan now” urge local leaders

Local councillors from across England have written to the secretary of state for health and social care, Steve Barclay MP, urging the government to bring forward a new Tobacco Control Plan for England and to introduce a ‘polluter pays’ levy on tobacco manufacturers.

This follows a new report from Cancer Research UK warning that the UK government is almost a decade behind achieving its target for England to be smokefree by 2030 (defined as five per cent or fewer people smoking). As it stands, there is currently no Tobacco Control Plan for England; the previous plan expired at the end of 2022, and the status of its replacement is unclear.

The letter, coordinated by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Cancer Research UK, highlights the significant financial pressure smoking places on local councils and the NHS, with an estimated £3.6 billion spent on smoking-related health and social care in England every year. This is in addition to £13.2 billion each year in lost economic productivity resulting from premature death and disability caused by smoking.

The letter’s authors argue that bold national action to reduce smoking rates would help to ease the pressure on household budgets and put money back into the pockets of struggling families. The average smoker who quits successfully will see their disposable income rise by around £2,450 a year.

Smoking is the leading cause of death and cancer in the UK, leading to 125,000 deaths per year and around 150 new cancer cases every day. A ‘polluter pays’ levy on tobacco manufacturers would raise an estimated £700 million per year, which could be used to fund measures to help smokers quit.

David Fothergill, chair of the Local Government Association Community Wellbeing Board, said, “Local councils have led the way in supporting people to quit smoking over the last decade and we are determined to play our part in making smokefree 2030 a reality. But we need the government to play their part and publish an ambitious new Tobacco Control Plan for England with the measures needed to end smoking.

“This should include a ‘polluter pays’ levy to make the tobacco companies pay to fix the damage they have caused by addicting generations of people to their lethal products.”

Sir Stephen Houghton CBE, leader of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, said, “It’s disappointing to see the government miss its own deadline for publishing a new Tobacco Control Plan to deliver the smokefree 2030 ambition. Every day the government delays, around 150 people develop smoking-related cancer and more children and young people take up this deadly addiction.

“With only seven years to go until 2030, we urgently need a bold tobacco strategy to take forward the recommendations from the Khan review and provide sustainable funding for tobacco control.”

References available on request.