Health campaigners support plans for a smokefree generation ahead of first vote in Parliament
Health campaigners support plans for a smokefree generation ahead of first vote in Parliament
Health campaigners have continued their support for plans to create a smokefree generation as it continues to progress through Parliament.
Tobacco smoking is the biggest cause of ill health, disability and death in the country – causing 64,000 deaths in England and over 117,000 deaths in the North East since the year 2000. No other product kills up to 2/3 of its users, most of whom (83%) start as teenagers.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is set for its 2nd reading and first vote by MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday 16 April. The Bill seeks to raise the age of sale for all tobacco products one year every year from 2027 onwards. This would means lethal tobacco could never be legally sold to anyone born or after 1st January 2009, aged 15 or younger this year.
In the North East, 73% of adults support the proposals to raise the age of sale by a year each year and the policy also enjoys cross party support.
And a brand new survey on behalf of ASH found that over half (51%) of independent tobacco retailers contacted said they supported the legislation (1), nearly double those opposed (26%). There is even greater support among retailers for creating a smokefree generation (65%).
Raising the age of sale from 2027 will come into force once the Bill is passed as will new fixed penalty fines of £100 for anyone selling cigarettes or vapes to children. Children or young people cannot be fined.
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.
John McClurey, a retired tobacco retailer from Newcastle, saw during his 39 years as a small shop owner the increase in the age of sale from 16 to 18, and putting tobacco out of sight in his shops. He said: “I’m not surprised most retailers support a smokefree generation. I lost my dad to lung cancer when he was 66, so I know first-hand the pain smoking causes and the impact it has had on my family.
“Like other laws to protect children and young people, retailers will adapt. We want people to live long healthy lives in local communities, not end up housebound and struggling for breath or dying early from smoking.”
Ailsa Rutter, OBE Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “The next few weeks will give Parliamentarians a huge opportunity to prevent the largest cause of cancer, stop the start of young smokers and create a better life free of addiction for our children.
“Most people who smoke get addicted young and regret it bitterly. 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.”
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 now costs our region £2.5bn a year – a cost not just felt by families but to our economy, local authority social care budgets and to 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.”
Cathy Hunt, 57, 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 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 and more young smokers hooked today to replace people like me. I am absolutely over the moon that they are planning to raise the age of sale for tobacco. Too many people are becoming ill and dying from smoking. We now have a chance to stop the start.”