Three quarters of people in West Midlands back plans to stamp out smoking

In a new report published today, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health called on the Government to transform Britain into a global leader in tobacco control in a bid to make smoking obsolete by 2030.

MPs said Britain's departure from the EU meant that new legislation could be brought in to force major tobacco firms to "pay to end the epidemic".

It came as new research showed 75 per cent of 1,357 people polled in the region supported Government plans to reduce the number of smokers to less than one in 20.

Currently 14.1 per cent of people in the West Midlands smoke, while smoking is believed to kill around 12,300 people a year in the region.

The group's report calls on ministers to use the opportunity provided by Brexit to become a global leader in tobacco control.

It recommends securing funding for tobacco control programmes through 'polluter pays' legislation that would force Big Tobacco to pay to deliver the end of smoking.

The report also suggests targeted investment to help smokers quit in sections of the community where a lot of people smoke, including the unemployed, and tougher regulations such as putting health warnings inside cigarette packets and raising the age of sale to 21.

Bob Blackman MP, chairman of the APPG, said: "Our report sets out measures which will put us on track to achieve the Government’s ambition to end smoking by 2030, but they can’t be delivered without funding.

"Tobacco manufacturers make extreme profits selling highly addictive, lethal products, while government coffers are bare because of Covid-19. The manufacturers have the money, they should be made to pay to end the epidemic."

In a new survey by the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), 75 per cent of people in the West Midlands supported plans for a levy paid by tobacco manufacturers to the Government.

Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) backed increasing the age of sale of tobacco to 21, while 84 per cent supported calls for tougher laws against retailers caught more than once selling to underage smokers.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, said: “We all applauded when the Government announced its ambition for a Smokefree 2030. But that was two years ago, the time has now come to deliver.”