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** 8 October 2024
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** UK
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** UK campaigners call for tobacco windfall tax and yearly levy on ‘lethal trade’ (#1)
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** Cumbria: (#2) Town's smoking rates halve, figures suggest (#2)
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** South Yorkshire Hospitals' stop smoking programme helps thousands quit (#3)
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** Weight-loss jabs no excuse not to bother being healthy, says Wes Streeting (#4)
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Written questions (#5)
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** UK
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** UK campaigners call for tobacco windfall tax and yearly levy on ‘lethal trade’

Doctors and health charities have urged Rachel Reeves to hit tobacco firms with a financial double whammy, including a windfall tax in the budget, to help fund Labour’s drive to eradicate smoking. They are suggesting a one-off £74m surcharge and a new £700m-a-year permanent levy on the industry’s “obscene” profits from selling its lethal products.

Keir Starmer has made clear his readiness to take bold action to stamp out smoking – the UK’s biggest cause of preventable illness – while the chancellor is searching for ways to bring in new income for the government in the package of measures she will reveal on 30 October.

Doctors, public health experts and cancer campaigners are urging Reeves to impose the charges on the four global tobacco firms, which between them provide 95% of all the cigarettes sold in the UK and generate about £1bn in profits.

The first charge – modelled on windfall taxes previously levied on banks, energy suppliers and water companies – would yield £74m to fund an expansion of services to help smokers quit. It could be imposed through a corporation tax surcharge included in the budget, they say.

Reeves should also legislate to introduce a recurring annual levy on the profits tobacco firms make, they say, which in the case of Imperial Tobacco is a £66.50 margin on every £100 of sales. Such a move could produce as much as £700m a year in extra revenue, it has been estimated.

The “polluter pays” levy would work by capping the price cigarette manufacturers can charge and the profits they can make, while simultaneously maintaining the retail price through additional taxation.

Hazel Cheeseman, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: “Besides killing 76,000 people a year in the UK with its products, big tobacco makes absolutely obscene profits. It’s time to hit this lethal trade with a new double whammy of financial penalties that would recognise its leading role in damaging the public’s health.”

She has coordinated a letter to the chancellor, urging her to enact both measures. It has been signed by medical groups such as the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians, health charities including Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation, directors of public health across the UK and academics.

In the letter, also sent to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, they say: “In other UK markets where monopoly-like pricing power is an issue, government regulates the prices the relevant companies can charge, for example for water, gas, electricity.

“These are life-enhancing products yet we think it is appropriate to limit their profits by regulating prices. Why not also do so for tobacco, which is life-destroying?” Three in four voters back a levy on tobacco profits, YouGov polling for ASH has found.

Dr Javed Khan floated both forms of financial penalty in the review of smoking policy he undertook for the Conservative government, published in 2022.

“If money is tight, as it is now, I recommended that government should look at a statutory levy on the tobacco industry to pay for the work needed to make smoking obsolete.

“The chancellor needs to carefully consider this as part of accelerating progress on smoking alongside planned legislation to create a smoke-free generation,” Khan said.

Steve Brine, who was a public health minister under the Tories and chaired the Commons health committee until the election, also endorsed the idea of a raid on profits.

“If ever there was a time for a government to look seriously at a levy on the tobacco industry it is now,” he said.

“A levy is a proportionate response to the price we pay as taxpayers for the profits made by a small number of transnational tobacco companies.”

Source: The Guardian, 7 October 2024

See also: Letter to Rachel Reeves ([link removed])

The Khan review: making smoking obsolete ([link removed])
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** Cumbria: Town's smoking rates halve, figures suggest

The number of people smoking in a town may have more than halved in a year, according to official estimates. Figures from the Office for National Statistics, external (ONS) suggest fewer than 10% of people in Barrow, Cumbria, smoked in 2023 compared with 21% in the previous 12 months. Across the county, ONS figures suggest a drop in smoking from 13% to one in ten people, but there was a note of caution that sample sizes could skew figures slightly.

However Colin Cox, formerly director of public health for the whole of Cumbria, called the overall downward trend "excellent news". Mr Cox, who is now director of public health and communities at Cumberland Council following Cumbria County Council's split into two unitary authorities last year, said that while the figures from the ONS may not provide a precise guide, it was clear "things are moving in the right direction".

"Each of these figures is based on a sample of a hundred people or so [per district], so they do vary year on year," he said.

"There's been a downward trend for many, many years now so it's really good news.

"I think vaping has made a big difference and there are quite a lot of people switching to vaping, but that's not a bad thing.

"If you're a smoker there is no doubt switching to vaping is much better in the long term for your health, well-being and wallet.

"What we don't want people to do is take up vaping if they've never smoked."
Mr Cox told BBC Radio Cumbria both councils in the county had invested "considerably more in the last 18 months in stop smoking services" and made them more accessible.

Source: BBC News, 7 October 2024

See also: ONS - Smoking habits in the UK and its constituent countries ([link removed])
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** South Yorkshire Hospitals' stop smoking programme helps thousands quit

“It’s never too late to quit.” That's the message from a Rotherham healthcare worker who is among thousands of South Yorkshire residents to receive support to stop smoking via an innovative programme running across the region’s hospitals.

Developed in partnership with NHS South Yorkshire and Yorkshire Cancer Research, the South Yorkshire QUIT Programme embeds treatment for tobacco addiction into the routine care offered to every patient who smokes and attends any hospital in South Yorkshire.

NHS South Yorkshire and Yorkshire Cancer Research hosted a celebration event bringing together key partners to celebrate the successes of the programme so far, highlighting how QUIT has helped thousands of patients and staff in South Yorkshire to reduce or quit tobacco consumption.

Dr Richard Jenkins, CEO of Barnsley Hospital and Rotherham Hospital and clinical lead for QUIT, said: “QUIT is such an important programme of work.

“Since the launch, over 200,000 patients have been screened for smoking and over 17,000 smokers had a specialist assessment including nicotine replacement therapy recommendation.

“These are amazing figures and we predict that these continue to rise as the programme continues.”

Paul Lambert, head of services at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “The QUIT programme provides clear evidence that embedding smoking cessation services into hospitals has a transformative impact on people's lives.”

Source: Rotherham Advertiser, 7 October 2024
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** Weight-loss jabs no excuse not to bother being healthy, says Wes Streeting

Weight-loss jabs should not be used as an excuse for people to give up on healthy living, the Health Secretary has said.

With two in three Britons classed as overweight or obese, experts say the injections are a crucial weapon in tackling Britain’s obesity epidemic, which is estimated to cost the economy £27 billion a year in health care and benefits for those out of work.

Wes Streeting has warned the availability of such treatments on the NHS should not result in obese people believing that “it is OK not to bother” with dieting and exercising to lose weight, and instead rely on the NHS to “pick up the tab”.

It comes as the NHS gears up for the mass rollout of weight-loss jabs for the first time. The proposals will see up to 1.6 million people offered injection. The jabs will be targeted at the heaviest patients with the most health problems, the Government announced this week.

Currently the use of jabs such as Wegovy for weight loss, which is also licensed as Ozempic for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, is only available on the NHS for severe obesity – although it is also on sale privately from online clinics for those with other illnesses.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Streeting said: “Obesity is a huge drag on the NHS, the economy, and the quality of people’s lives, so obesity jabs are an exciting innovation.

“But we don’t want to encourage a dependency culture where people think it’s OK not to bother eating healthily or exercising, because the NHS will pick up the tab and pay for their weight loss jab.

“People in this country have the right to expect top quality healthcare, but also a responsibility to look after their own health, so we’ve got to get the balance right.”

He added that it is in “everyone’s interest to play their part” in reducing the burden of obesity on the NHS.

Obesity is the second most common cause of preventable death after smoking and costs the health service £11.4 billion per year, putting a “huge strain on NHS staff and resources”, Mr Streeting said.

NHS figures show Britons weigh around a stone more than 30 years ago, with the average man weighing 14 stone by middle age.

Both Wegovy and Mounjaro injections are licensed for obese adults and for those with a BMI of at least 27 and weight-related health conditions.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, said in June that the jabs should not be used as a “quick fix for people trying to get ‘beach body ready’”.

His warning came after senior medics warned that A&E units were treating casualties of Wegovy injections – marketed as Ozempic for diabetes – daily.

Doctors said they were seeing increasing numbers of slim young girls ending up in A&E suffering ill-effects, including pancreatitis, after lying to online pharmacies in order to pass eligibility checks.

Source: The Telegraph, 5 October 2024

Editorial note: The article includes a graph purporting to show the cost of smoking, obesity and alcohol to the NHS alongside the money raised by taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugar. This graph only includes the cost to the NHS and excludes the cost to other areas like lost economic productivity. The cost of smoking to the NHS is only a small part of the £18.5 bn overall cost of smoking to the public finances in England in 2023. This is more than double the value of tobacco duties. See ASH’s economic modelling here ([link removed]) .
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Written questions

Asked by Sir John Hayes, Conservative, South Holland and The Deepings

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with HMRC on tackling the illicit tobacco trade

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with HMRC on tackling the illicit tobacco trade.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with the National Crime Agency on tackling the illicit tobacco trade.

Answered by James Murray, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Labour, Ealing North

There have been, and will continue to be, discussions between HMT Ministers and HMRC officials on a range of issues including tackling the illicit tobacco trade. The government is committed to tackling illicit tobacco which has significant negative impacts on the economy, public health, legitimate businesses, and overall public safety. It cheats the Exchequer of revenues and blunts the effectiveness of tobacco duty as a tool to reduce smoking.

There have been, and will continue to be, discussions between HMT Ministers and HMRC officials on a range of issues including tackling the illicit tobacco trade. The government is committed to tackling illicit tobacco which has significant negative impacts on the economy, public health, legitimate businesses, and overall public safety. It cheats the Exchequer of revenues and blunts the effectiveness of tobacco duty as a tool to reduce smoking.

Tackling the illicit tobacco trade is the responsibility of HMRC and Border Force, who carry out enforcement activity throughout the illicit supply chain and are supported at retail level by Trading Standards. Last year this enforcement activity resulted in the seizure of over 1.3 billion cigarettes and 92 tonnes of hand rolling tobacco as well as 194 arrests and 107 convictions. HMRC work closely with a range of law enforcement partners, including the National Crime Agency, to support each other in tackling organised crime.

Source: Hansard, 7 October 2024

Question 1 ([link removed])
Question 2 ([link removed])
Question 3 ([link removed])
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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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