View this email in your browser ([link removed])
** 24 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
** Comment: Britain’s gradual recovery from COVID-19 is an opportunity to tackle another epidemic – smoking (#1)
------------------------------------------------------------
** North West: Illegal cigarettes seized in Cheshire (#2)
------------------------------------------------------------
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
** Spain: Petition calls for a smoking ban on all beaches (#3)
------------------------------------------------------------
** Parliamentary Activity
------------------------------------------------------------
** Parliamentary question (#4)
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** Writing in the Telegraph, Louise Marshall and Adam Briggs, senior fellows at The Health Foundation, argue that the government should prioritise action to eliminate tobacco as the country travels along its roadmap out of coronavirus lockdown.
They highlight that the government is due to publish a new tobacco control plan for England this summer. Much of its focus will be on achieving the smokefree generation ambition, where 5% or less of the population smoke. However, the authors argue that the plan must include bold policies to deliver on the government’s promise made in the Queen’s Speech to “focus on levelling up health outcomes.”
The authors observe that the poorest and most socially disadvantaged communities continue to suffer the most from tobacco-related diseases, contributing to disproportionately high morbidity and mortality in these groups. They highlight a report last year from the Smokefree Action Coalition – a group of over 300 charities and other organisations including the British Medical Association and several medical royal colleges – which highlighted “how the government needs to go further, faster if it is to reach its ambition of less than 1 in 20 adults smoking by 2030.”
The authors make several recommendations that the new tobacco control plan should include:
------------------------------------------------------------
*
** Legislating for tobacco companies to pay the costs of educational campaigns and stop smoking services,
------------------------------------------------------------
*
** Introducing proposals for the first smokefree generation by progressively raising the legal age for buying tobacco products, and
------------------------------------------------------------
*
** Imposing much tighter restrictions on where tobacco can be sold.
------------------------------------------------------------
**
The authors conclude that “such bold policies have the potential to eliminate tobacco use, end death and disease from tobacco once and for all.”
Source: The Telegraph, 21 May 2021
See also: Smokefree Action Coalition - Roadmap to a Smokefree 2030 ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed] )
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** About 4000 counterfeit cigarettes and 40 packs of illegal tobacco were seized during a raid at a convenience store, Cheshire Police have confirmed.
Officers executed a search warrant at the shop at about 1.30 pm on Tuesday, 18th May 2021. The force had previously received reports of anti-social behaviour and dangerous parking related to the premises.
Warrington Magistrates Court granted a closure order on the shop on Saturday, 22nd May 2021 – making it a criminal offence to enter for the next three months.
Inspector Danny Haddock said: “There were reports of young people pestering people to buy tobacco products from the convenience store for them and verbally abusing those who refused, groups of people loitering around the shop and dangerous parking on the road due to the amount of people going to the premises. People living and working in the area should not have to put up with such behaviour that has a detrimental effect on your quality of life. […] [We] will continue to take action against those who engage in criminal activity and fuel anti-social behaviour in our communities. Such behaviour will not be tolerated here at Warrington local policing unit. As this investigation shows, we use the full remit of the law to tackle criminal and anti-social behaviour and make the town an even better place to live, work and visit.”
Source: Chester Standard, 23 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed] )
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** More than 283,000 people have signed a petition urging Spain’s environmental minister to ban smoking on all Spanish beaches.
No Fumadores (No Smokers) has been gathering signatures aimed at transforming Spain’s 3,084 miles (4,964km) of coastline into areas free of cigarette smoke and discarded cigarette butts for more than two years.
According to Raquel Fernández Megina of No Fumadores, the petition, which was delivered to Minister Teresa Ribera on Friday (21 May 2021), calls on the government to implement national legislation on the subject. She went on to say that the hundreds of thousands of signatures gathered “send the message that we can’t wait any longer.”
According to Fernández Megina, this will protect beachgoers from the effects of secondhand smoke while also reducing the abundance of cigarette butts that litter many of the country’s beaches. According to the organisation, 475 beaches in Spain have already been designated as smokefree.
Source: The Guardian, 23 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])
** Parliamentary Activity
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
**
PQ: Duty Free Allowances: Airports
------------------------------------------------------------
** Asked by Sarah Olney Liberal Democrat, Richmond Park
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential economic merits of introducing arrivals duty free shops at airports.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
Following a consultation, the Government announced on 11 September 2020 that duty-free sales would be extended to EU-bound passengers for the first time in over 20 years from 1 January 2021.
This is a significant boost to all airports and international rail terminals in England, Scotland and Wales, including Manchester, and smaller regional airports and rail hubs, which have not been able to offer duty-free to the EU before.
Duty-free on arrival did not form part of the Government's consultation on the potential approach to duty- and tax-free goods arising from the UK’s new relationship with the EU, which took place in the Spring of 2020. The Government nonetheless acknowledged in the summary of responses to the consultation that some stakeholders had requested the introduction of duty-free on arrival. This also set out that duty-free on arrival was not a scheme that the Government previously offered and was therefore not considering implementing the scheme at that time.
Source: Hansard, 21 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Transcript ([link removed] )
Have you been forwarded this email? Subscribe to ASH Daily News here. ([link removed])
For more information email
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]) or visit www.ash.org.uk
@ASHorguk ([link removed])
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.
============================================================
Our mailing address is:
Action on Smoking and Health
Unit 2.9, The Foundry
17 Oval Way
London
SE11 5RR
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
