Reducing the sale of lethal tobacco products will save North East lives and boost jobs
Fresh has welcomed the landmark vote in Parliament to create a smokefree generation by raising the age of lethal tobacco products by a year every year from 2027.
MPs voted on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which will raise the age of sale for all tobacco products one year every year, so children turning 16 this year or younger can never legally be sold lethal tobacco.
It comes as a new study by Landman Economics on behalf of Action on Smoking and Health revealed a win for the British economy of a Smokefree UK. It shows that reducing spending on tobacco would free up more money for other goods and services, with a fully “Smokefree UK” creating an estimated 135,000 more UK jobs worth almost £10 billion [1]. In the North East, over £171m is spent annually by people on tobacco.
More than 7/10 people in the North East support raising the age of sale for tobacco. 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 125,000 people in the North East since the year 2000 – most of whom started as teenagers.
Ailsa Rutter, OBE Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “We welcome today’s historic vote which will improve the health of people in our communities over generations. This will give many young people a better life without smoking robbing them of their health and their money.
“Most people who smoke got addicted young, regret it and often spend many years trying to stop. Our children and grandchildren deserve a future free of the death and disease of tobacco.”
But she added: “The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is legislation which put our young people above the profits of tobacco companies, and which the UK can be proud of. However, we cannot forget that there are millions of people who smoke right now who will die early or see their health severely damaged unless we maintain efforts to encourage and support people to quit.”
Economist Howard Reed who led the analysis said: “Few would consider reducing smoking as having a direct impact on the country’s growth strategy but plainly this analysis shows that reducing consumption of tobacco can have major benefits to society beyond improving health. What is more switching spending from tobacco can have a very rapid impact on jobs, whereas some of the health benefits can take many years to be seen.”
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will also implement other new measures to restrict the promotion of vapes to reduce appeal to children, consider the introduction of more smokefree outdoor spaces, 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.
1: https://ash.org.uk/uploads/GVAUpdate2025Report_FINAL_revised.pdf?v=1742921047