Smoking should be made illegal outside of pubs and bars and children should be banned from ever being able to buy cigarettes, according to radical ‘nanny-state’ recommendations unveiled today.
Lighting up on any premises that sell food and drink should be outlawed to ensure hospitality is smoke-free, the Government-commissioned review set out.The move would see cigarettes axed in beer gardens, restaurants with outdoor dining, club smoking areas and even beaches.
Health Secretary tasked former children’s charity chief Javed Khan with finding ways England could be smoke-free by 2030 — defined as less than five per cent of people smoking, compared to the current 15 per cent.
Another bold proposal includes hiking the age limit for purchasing cigarettes in England, currently set at 18, by 12 months every year until no-one can legally buy a tobacco product.
Ministers are expected to reject this proposed policy, which is being rolled out in New Zealand and means anyone born after 2008 will never be able to buy cigarettes.However, Mr Javid — said to be privately against the move — today announced the Government will ‘carefully consider’ all 15 of the ‘clear and challenging’ recommendations.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said any evidence-backed plans to improve public health should be seriously looked at.
Other suggestions include getting doctors to prescribe e-cigarettes and vapes to smokers in order to help them quit, paying expectant mothers to quit and branding cigarette sticks with how many minutes it shaves off of someone’s life and making them a ‘dissuasive’ colour like green.
The Government should make ‘the polluter pay’ by forcing the ‘dying’ tobacco industry pay an extra £70million in tax every year to fund towards a £125million fund to support quitting and e-cigarettes on the NHS, the report says.
It also calls for supermarkets and websites to be banned from selling tobacco, while retailers should be forced to apply for a tobacco license to limit where cigarettes can be sold.
All films and TV shows that show people smoking or other ‘tobacco imagery’ should also be rated for people aged 18 and over.
Dr Khan said his recommendations, if implemented, would deliver a ‘smoke-free society’, save lives, save money and address health disparities.He called on ministers to make smoking ‘obsolete once and for all’.
But pro-smoking campaign group Forest said a ‘creeping prohibition’ won’t stop young people from smoking but instead drive the same of tobacco ‘underground’, forcing Britons to buy cigarettes on ‘the black market where no one pays tax and products are completely unregulated’.
Think tank the Adam Smith Institute labelled the report ‘nanny-statism on steroids’ and ‘illiberal nonsense’.
However, Sir Chris Whitty claimed attempts by tobacco lobbyists to make any debate around smoking legislation about health vs freedom are ‘dishonest’.England’s Chief Medical Officer, who guided the nation through Covid, welcomed the ‘bold report’ and said the industry has addicted millions of Britons ‘at a very young age’.
Radical plans to raise the legal smoking age could be announced on Thursday, techinfluential when an independent report is due to land. Among the review’s 15 recommendations are proposals for the NHS to prescribe e-cigarettes and vapes to smokers
Ministers are expected to reject the proposed policy to increase the age limit for purchasing cigarettes in England, currently set at 18, by 12 months every year until no one can legally buy a tobacco product.Health Secretary Sajid Javid (left) today said the Government will ‘carefully consider’ all 15 of the ‘clear and challenging’ recommendations. But Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove (right) said any evidence-backed plans to improve public health should be seriously looked at
However, Sir Chris Whitty claimed attempts by tobacco lobbyists to make any debate around smoking legislation about health vs freedom are ‘dishonest’.England’s Chief Medical Officer, who guided the nation through Covid, welcomed the ‘bold report’ and said the industry has addicted millions of Britons ‘at a very young age’
Around 6million people smoke in the UK and it is behind 64,000 deaths every year.
The NHS spends £2.4billion every year treating smoking-related conditions. The map shows adult smoking rate in Britain through colours representing increasing ranges of prevalence, from the 3.4 per cent to 10.3 per cent range, up to the 17.2 to 27.5 per cent range.
The highest smoking uptake is found in parts of the North West, East Midlands, South Yorkshire, East of England and South West
The graph shows the prevalence of smoking in England, reducing from 19.8 per cent in 2011 to 13.9 per cent in 2019.The chart then shows the projected trend downwards to 2.5 per cent in 2050
The graph shows responses from 18 to 24 year olds and all respondents to a question asking if they think that the Government is doing enough to limit smoking.Just four to six per cent believe the Government is doing too much, while around half think it is not doing enough
The graph shows the cost of tobacco to society compared to tax revenue, which is £10billion. The costs include £13.2billion to productivity, £2.4billion on healthcare, £1.2billion to social care and £300million to smoking-related fires
The report recommends ‘radically rethinking’ how cigarette sticks and packets look to reduce the appeal of smoking.This could include mandating anti-smoking messages on cigarette sticks, such as the ‘minutes of life lost’ per cigarette and using ‘dissuasive colours like green or brown’ on sticks and hand rolling papers
Another Khan review suggestion includes prohibiting all smoking at beaches, pub gardens and anywhere else food and drink is served outside.Meanwhile, Downing Street has not ruled out implementing a ban on smoking in beer gardens and said the move will be ‘carefully considered’
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox health halfRHS" data-version="2" id="mol-9e96d860-e801-11ec-9a65-838f04cf8b14" website could be made illegal OUTSIDE pubs and bars