Fresh and Balance welcome measures announced today in the budget on tobacco and alcohol
With tobacco and alcohol straining health and public resources and costing the North East nearly £4 billion a year combined, Fresh and Balance have welcomed measures announced by the Government in the autumn budget.
Tobacco smoking costs the region £2.35bn a year to healthcare, social care and the economy while alcohol costs £1.5 billion, with crime and disorder an additional pressure on local communities.
Not only does alcohol use place a significant burden on society, but action to further reduce smoking rates will be limited without action to reduce the harms caused by alcohol, including measures to reduce affordability. Action to reduce the appeal of vaping to children is important whilst also ensuring that existing adult smokers can be incentivised to get off lethal combustible tobacco products.
Ailsa Rutter OBE Director of Fresh and Balance said: “Given smoking is still our key driver of health inequalities and with over 113,000 North East loved ones dying from avoidable smoking illnesses since 2000, it is vital that the Government continues to prioritise policies that we know help people to stop smoking and also stop new generations getting hooked on lethal tobacco products. This region has a clear vision for a Smokefree Future and it is important that we focus our efforts on ending our biggest cause of cancer.
“Whether people smoke manufactured cigarettes or hand rolled, they are both lethal and sadly will kill in 2 in 3 long term users. It is important that price increases are also supported by continued investment in stop smoking services given we know most people who smoke want to stop and also regret taking up smoking.
“We know that vaping is much less harmful than smoking but is not risk free, which is why we support action taken to reduce the appeal of vapes to children and their pocket money prices. We also know how important the access to vapes is for many people trying to quit smoking so it is important that they can still access these. We therefore welcome the consultation announced today to work out more detail around the planned taxation for vape liquids.”
For years Fresh has been campaigning for a levy on tobacco companies, as have many other leading health organisations. Commenting on its absence from the Budget, Ailsa Rutter also said:
“It continues to be wrong that the tobacco companies can make nearly £1 billion in profit each year in the UK whilst killing their customers. The Government could have raised an additional £700 million through a levy structured to reduce the profitability of tobacco companies and cap their prices. Like ASH, we urge the government to look at this again as we know this would be popular with the public.”
Sue Taylor Head of Alcohol Policy, Fresh and Balance said: “We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement today to increase duty on non-draught alcohol products. This targets cheap, supermarket and off trade alcohol, which is causing the greatest harm in driving illness and death in communities across the North East and for some of our most vulnerable people. Alcohol harm is costing the North East nearly £1.5 billion a year in ill-health, crime and disorder, social care and costs to workplaces.
“With 80% of all alcohol now consumed in the off trade, we believe it is particularly important to target the cheapest, strongest products and today’s measures will help to narrow the price gap between pub and supermarket alcohol and support the hospitality sector. We know that most landlords see cheap supermarket alcohol as their biggest threat.
“This is a step in the right direction, but with alcohol deaths and hospital admissions at record levels, wider national action is also needed. Against a backdrop of rising alcohol deaths and chronic harms from alcohol, our Blueprint for Reducing Alcohol Harm calls on the Government to introduce an evidence-based national alcohol strategy, which reduces the affordability, availability and promotion of alcohol and which invests in prevention and early intervention.”
The government has announced: Autumn Budget 2024 – GOV.UK – taken from Govt website
Tobacco
- The government will renew the Tobacco Duty escalator of RPI+2% for the remainder of this Parliament and will increase duty by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco this year. These changes will take effect from 6pm on 30 October 2024 and will be included in Finance Bill 2024-25.
- A new Vaping Products Duty will be introduced from 1 October 2026 at a flat rate of £2.20 per 10ml vaping liquid, accompanied by an equivalent further one-off increase in Tobacco Duty of £2.20 per 100 cigarettes / 50g of tobacco in tobacco duty to maintain the financial incentive to switch from tobacco to vaping.
- In moving from a model of sickness to prevention, the government is taking action against childhood and adult obesity and creating the first smoke-free generation. The government will restrict junk food advertising on TV and online to reduce the number of children living with obesity; and gradually end the sale of tobacco products across the country, ban vapes from being deliberately branded and advertised to children, and deliver an ambitious package of support to help current smokers to quit.
Alcohol
- The government will support pubs and the wider on-trade by cutting alcohol duty rates on draught products below 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) by 1.7% from February 2025, so that an average ABV strength pint will pay 1p less in duty.
- Alcohol duty on non-draught products will increase in line with Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation from the same date.
- The government will also increase the discount provided to small producers for non-draught products, and maintain the cash discount provided to small producers for draught products, increasing the relative value of Small Producer Relief.
- The current temporary wine easement will also end as planned on 1 February 2025
- The Alcohol Duty Stamps scheme will end following a review by HMRC. The government will introduce legislation in Finance Bill 2024-25 to end the Scheme from 1 May 2025