Smoking causes extraordinary damage across the country.
Stillbirths, asthma in children, substantially increased risks of heart attacks, heart failure and stroke, multiple cancers and premature dementia – the costs to society are colossal.
It also drives a substantial proportion of the inequalities between, and within, local authorities, which have shown great leadership in trying to reduce tobacco harms.
More than 80 per cent of smokers began as teenagers. The vast majority of smokers wish they had never started, but are now addicted.
Although the tobacco industry tries to portray this as an issue of choice, the reality is that they market products aiming to addict. Those who are addicted and want to quit have had their choice taken away.
Passive smoking affects a large number of children, pregnant women and others who will be harmed by it – they also do not choose to do so.
Vaping is meant to be a tool to help smokers to quit; that should be its only role. It is not risk free, but is significantly less harmful than smoking (a very low bar). Increasingly, however, companies are marketing vapes to children: this is utterly unacceptable.
Local authorities have been at the forefront of trying to reduce smoking and the damage that arises from it in their communities. They have also been highlighting the harm of vapes to children and the environmental impact of disposable vapes.
Initiatives such as ‘Fresh’ in North East England, which is jointly funded by 12 local authorities; Greater Manchester’s ‘Making Smoking History’ strategy; and the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire partnership on tobacco are good examples of this.
“More than 80 per cent of smokers began as teenagers. The vast majority wish they had never started”
The Prime Minister recently announced that he will bring forward legislation which, if approved by Parliament, will steadily raise the age of sale so that anyone turning 14 this year or younger will never be legally sold tobacco products.
This does not remove any rights from existing smokers, and does not criminalise smoking at any time, but will save future generations from the profound damage that comes from addiction to cigarettes at a young age.
This move is supported by the vast majority of the public and was welcomed by opposition parties.
It is also essential that we help current smokers who wish to quit.
The Prime Minister announced a doubling of funding for local authority ‘stop smoking’ services, and increased funding for anti-smoking campaigns and enforcement, to support stopping smoking.
Legislation will also tackle youth vaping. The Government is consulting on proposals to restrict the flavours and descriptions of vapes, regulate point-of-sale displays, and restrict the sale and supply of disposable vapes, among other techniques that companies are using to market vapes to children. Local authorities have been at the forefront of highlighting the environmental damage of disposable vapes in addition to the fact they should never be used by children.
If Parliament votes through these changes, it will be a major step forward towards ending the damage of smoking and reducing the marketing of vapes to children.
Ensuring the law works to achieve these goals will, however, lie with local authorities. Supporting smokers to quit and enforcing the law around under-age sales of tobacco products and vapes will both be local authority led.
These are major steps towards reducing harm from tobacco, building on the work and leadership of local authorities over many years.
- ‘Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping: your views’ is open for consultation until 6 December.
