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Apart from commitments on smoking Rishi Sunak's speech to Conservative conference fell flat with public, poll suggests
Rishi Sunak's speech at the Conservative Party conference fell flat with the British public, a new poll suggests.
During his speech, the prime minister confirmed his long-rumoured decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester and announced plans to introduce some of the strictest smoking laws in the world.
18% of the public and 4% of Conservative’s rated Sunak’s speech as very poor and 61% of the public and 25% of Conservative’s did not watch/listen to it at all.
Mr Sunak's announcement of his intention to raise the legal smoking age by one year every year - meaning a 14-year-old today will never be able to buy a cigarette - garnered more support. With 81% of conservative’s and 61% of the public agreeing with the policy.
Source: Sky News, 5 October 2023
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Smoking ban plan burns Big Tobacco
The pressure on the share prices of big tobacco companies grew last night after the government confirmed plans to raise the smoking age to eventually ban the sale of cigarettes in England.
Rishi Sunak, in his speech to the Conservative Party conference, proposed increasing the legal age by “one year, every year . . . That means a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette.”
The announcement immediately hit the shares of London-listed tobacco groups. Imperial Brands, the maker of Lambert & Butler and Player’s, fell by 2.8 per cent, or 45p, to £15.80; British American Tobacco, its larger rival, dropped 1.7 per cent, or 43½p, to £24.63½. Tobacco stocks had already weakened in recent weeks amid leaked reports of a government clampdown.
The tobacco industry and associated lobby groups denounced the government’s plan, warning that it would benefit the illicit market.
Imperial said: “Like any prohibition, the proposal to ban the legal sale of cigarettes over time threatens significant unintended consequences.”
BAT said: “Enforcement of existing tobacco control policies is already under-resourced. An additional ban is only going to make it more difficult to police.”
Source: The Times, 5 October 2023
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Opinion: What’s the point of banning smoking? It’s dying out anyway
Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator asks, ”Why ban something that’s already dying? Wouldn’t it be better, more powerful and permanent, for smoking to stop because smoking is seen, almost universally, as gross?
He goes on to say “Here’s the dilemma. Should people be free to buy cigarettes, given that two-thirds of those who smoke eventually die from it? Passive smoking has been minimised by smoking restrictions. It’s also hard, given today’s packaging, not to be aware of the harm cigarettes do. So should adults be allowed to knowingly risk their own lives and smoke? Until now, the liberal British answer has been “yes”. The Prime Minister thinks no. He’s not taking anyone’s rights away, he says, because under-14s don’t smoke and will simply be unable to start. ”
Fraser Nelson remains to be convinced, “It’s not just about smoking, but about the limits of the state and the definition of freedom. The Conservative approach has hitherto been simple: if it’s not necessary to ban, then it’s necessary not to ban. To make his case, the Prime Minister needs to prove that there really is no other way.”.
Source: The Telegraph, 5 October 2023
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Will Scotland sign up to Sunak's smoking ban?
Rishi Sunak has promised tough new action in England to stub out smoking for the younger generation. In the past, Scotland has taken a lead in anti-smoking measures, so will it now follow the same path as the prime minister?
In his speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the prime minister pledged to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes in England by one year, every year. It is currently 18 throughout the UK.
Health policy is a devolved issue so it is up to the Scottish Parliament to decide the legal smoking age in Scotland.
But while Mr Sunak's proposals would only apply in England, he wants to work with the devolved governments to develop a UK-wide approach.
The Scottish government is due to publish a "refreshed" Tobacco Action Plan later this year, so we will have to wait until then for the details.
Smoking in Scotland has been on the decline since 2003, and by 2021 it was believed that about 11% of Scottish adults were smokers.
The Scottish government's most recent health and wellbeing census found in 2021/22 that only 4.3% of S4 pupils were regular smokers while 10.1% were regular vapers.
Source: BBC News, 5 October 2023
See also: Health and Wellbeing Census Scotland 2021- 2022
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Will Rishi Sunak's plan to ban smoking in UK work?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has described his plan to phase out the sale of cigarettes as the "biggest public health intervention in a generation".
But the problem comes when you think about the mechanics of how it will work in practice.
No country in the world had done this. New Zealand has passed a law to introduce it but it will be another four years before it really starts kicking in and an adult is legally unable to be sold a tobacco product.
The point of the policy, says Dr Sarah Jackson, part of the tobacco and alcohol research group at University College London, is not to ban smoking outright but to further de-normalise and so "discourage" young people from taking it up.
She says there is good evidence that increasing the age of sale is effective in reducing smoking rates, pointing out that the increase in the legal age of sale from 16 to 18 in 2007 has contributed to the falls seen since then.
But what is also clear from New Zealand's lead is that increasing the age of sale should be seen as just a part of a package of measures.
Alongside the age change, New Zealand is also reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes and restricting where they can be sold.
Source: BBC News, 5 October 2023
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Charities demand PM declares smoking-style war on obesity
Rishi Sunak was today facing demands to ramp up efforts to shrink Britain's ever-growing waistline in the wake of his blitz on smoking.
The Prime Minister yesterday unveiled a radical plan to effectively ban kids born in 2009 or later from ever being able to buy cigarettes.
Anti-obesity charities and health experts hailed Mr Sunak for his willingness to take 'bold' action on public health.
But they slammed his 'unforgivable' hesitancy to tackle the obesity crisis engulfing the nation, with nearly two-thirds of adults now fat.
Health bosses estimate obesity costs £27billion a year through its knock-on effects such as the health complications of being fat and the impact on the NHS, as well as secondary costs like lost earnings from time taken off work due to illness and early deaths.
The Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of over 50 health organisations, including the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK, said the PM needed to treat the obesity crisis as seriously as he did tobacco.
An analysis, by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) suggests reducing smoking levels in the future will save the country money in the long term.
CRUK-commissioned experts previously totted up the benefits of Britain becoming 'smoke-free' — where less than 5 per cent of population smokes.
They found if smoking was reduced to this level, it would prevent nearly 100,000 new cases of smoking-related disease, such as lung conditions and various cancers, by 2035.
This would save the country £67million in direct NHS and social care costs, as well as £548million in broader costs to society in 2035 alone.
CRUK also did a similar analysis on obesity, estimating the benefits of reducing the obesity in the population by 1 per cent annually over 20 years between 2015 and 2035.
This was calculated to save the nation £300million in health costs and £1.3billion in broader costs to society in 2035 alone.
Source: MailOnline, 5 October 2023
See also: CRUK - Obesity and cancer – time for concerted action
Modelling the implications of reducing smoking prevalence: the public health and economic benefits of achieving a ‘tobacco-free’ UK
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Ban smoking for next generation to ‘keep pace’ with UK and NZ, advocates tell Australian government
The health minister, Mark Butler, has said the Albanese government will monitor the impact of smoking bans to be imposed by New Zealand and now the UK, as health experts and advocates say pressure is on Australia to “keep pace” with those countries.
The Australian government has recently introduced a comprehensive package of tobacco control reforms, which include the new vaping laws as well as new measures on cigarettes – including adding warnings to cigarette sticks themselves, banning flavours and menthol in cigarettes, refreshing graphic health warnings, which have been the same for over a decade, and banning online advertising.
However, the laws do not go as far as New Zealand and the UK in banning cigarette sales for the next generation. Butler said the legislation, if passed, would enable important reforms to protect Australians against the harm caused by tobacco and vaping products.
According to the latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 3.2% of 14- to 17-year-old Australians smoke cigarettes. However, as vaping rates surge among young people, research published in August found e-cigarette use is the single strongest risk factor for adolescents taking up tobacco smoking.
Source: The Guardian, 5 October 2023
See also: Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia
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Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation
This week the government released a command paper that sets out the proposed actions the government will take to tackle smoking and youth vaping.
They wrote “Smoking is the single most entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability and death in the UK. This publication sets out proposed action the government will take to protect future generations from the harms of smoking, by creating the first smokefree generation.
It also sets out wider measures to support existing smokers to quit smoking, crack down on youth vaping and ensure the law is enforced.”
In the government’s press release they set out their bid to achieve the first “smokefree generation” and proposed new legislation will make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products.
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Local stop smoking services to receive more funding
In addition, the government is investing an additional £70 million per year to support local authority-led stop smoking services (SSS). This will more than double current spending from £68 million per year (to a total of £138 million) and support around 360,000 people to quit smoking.
See also: ASH - 10 high impact actions for local authorities and their partners
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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