Fresh supports a smokefree future ahead of second reading of Tobacco and Vapes Bill in Parliament
- New figures show 7/10 people who smoke in the NE say they wish they’d never started and 6/10 say their life would be better if they didn’t smoke.
Health campaigners are asking MPs to support plans to create a smokefree generation with the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in Parliament on Tuesday 26 November. It comes as new figures show how much the majority of people who smoke regret ever starting.
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death, disability and ill health in the UK. It causes over 74,000 deaths in England a year, causes 1 in 4 of all cancer deaths and kills up to 2 in 3 long term smokers. Tobacco has now killed an estimated 120,000 people in the North East since the year 2000 – most of whom started as teenagers.
Smoking also drives poverty with smoking-related poverty highest in the North East where 42% of households containing smokers live in poverty. Creating a smokefree generation will help break this “iron chain.”
In the North East, 73% of adults support raising the age of sale by a year each year and the policy also enjoys cross party support. Over 50 organisations from the North East submitted responses in a consultation in 2023 – from fire and rescue, local authorities and NHS Trusts to the Association of Directors of Public Health North East and the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
In spring 2024 face to face interviews were held with 1,300 people who smoke in the North East which revealed the high level of regret at ever starting. 72% say they wish they’d never started smoking and 61% say their life would be better if they didn’t smoke.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is set for its 2nd reading and likely vote by MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday 26 November. The Bill seeks to raise the age of sale for all tobacco products one year every year and create the first “smoke-free generation” so children turning 15 this year or younger can never legally be sold tobacco.
It will implement new measures including to clamp down on promotion of vapes to reduce appeal to children, and also introduce a new £200 fixed penalty notice in England and Wales, which will enable Trading Standards Officers to act ‘on the spot’ to clamp down on offences such as underage sales.
Ailsa Rutter, OBE Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Most of us want a smokefree future for the next generation free of the death and disease of tobacco.
“Most people get addicted young, regret it and spend years trying to stop. This is about giving our next generation a life free of a cancer-causing addiction which costs tens of thousands of pounds over a lifetime and ends up killing 2 out of 3. It is part of building stronger, healthier communities and putting money into local people’s pockets, not those of tobacco companies.”
Amanda Healy, Durham County Council’s Director of Public Health and Chair of the Association of Directors of Public Health North East Network, said: “The response from local authorities, NHS trusts and many other organisations and individuals to create a smokefree generation has been overwhelming. Smoking costs our region £2.35bn a year – it is not just felt by families in health and poverty, but this also hits our economy, local authority social care budgets and the NHS.
“The North East has seen the biggest fall in smoking in England in the last two decades, but for generations saw the worst outcomes from diseases like lung cancer and COPD and the impact in our communities with people left disabled or dying too early from smoking.
“There are very few families who haven’t seen a loved one suffer because of smoking…that is why people don’t want that for their children or grandchildren.”
Dr Neil O’Brien, chief medical officer for the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: “As a GP I see first-hand the devastating effects smoking has on the health of my patients and the impact it also has on their loved ones too. It causes many fatal and debilitating illnesses such as cancer, COPD, heart disease and dementia and puts a significant pressure every day on our NHS. We know that if we reduce smoking even further and create a smokefree future for the next generation, we will enable people to live longer healthier lives with huge benefits for the physical and mental health of people in our communities.”
Cathy Hunt, 58, is a mum of four from County Durham. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had half a lung removed in 2015 just two days before her 50th birthday. She underwent surgery again in 2022 when the cancer returned, and in June 2023 had a kidney removed due to cancer. READ Cathy’s full article.
Cathy said: “Too many people are becoming ill and dying from smoking. Tobacco companies lied to the public about the risks of smoking, made cigarettes even more addictive and got women like myself hooked with all the glamorous advertising, the boxes, the slim cigarettes. Thanks to them, women are now overtaking men for lung cancer.
“They continue to get more young smokers addicted today to replace people like me. I am absolutely over the moon that they are planning to make it illegal to ever sell lethal tobacco products to anyone born after 1st January 2009. Too many people are becoming ill and dying from smoking. We now have a chance to stop the start.”