THE SLOW DEATH OF SMOKING T
HE government has set out plans to end smoking by 2030 in proposals published during Theresa May’s final days as Prime Minister.
That is according to a new green paper - a set of proposals to be discussed by health-care professionals and MPs - revealed the government’s aims for a ‘smoke-free’ country in the next 20 years.
The number of smokers in Great Britain today has decreased to 16.6% of the population, down from 20.5% when the smoking ban was introduced in 2007.
The government plans to bring numbers to zero by automatically giving support to smokers to quit when they are admitted to hospital.
The paper’s aims include plans to tackle obesity and sugar intake by making labelling clearer on takeaways, and banning the sale of energy drinks to under 16s.
But the proposals were quickly condemned by the Royal College of Nursing.
Helen Donovan, professional lead for public health, said: “We’ve been waiting some time for these plans which appear to have been buried in the dying days of the current government.
“In addition, the plans already start at a disadvantage, as the Health Foundation suggests there will be a 25% cut in public health spending per person by 2020/21.
“In healthcare, our goal is to think of a person’s wellbeing over an entire lifetime, not just in the short term. “It’s once again disappointing that shortsighted government policy still doesn’t reflect this.”
The government’s own report highlighted regional disparities in the types of people who smoke and where they live.
For example, in Westminster, one in 50 pregnant mothers smoke. In Blackpool, the figure is one in four. In recent years the proportion of smokers has remained stubbornly persistent despite a steep decline between 1974 and 2007.
The figures reveal that in the year to 2018 the proportion of female smokers actually rose from 15.0% to 16.2%.
The long term future of May’s plans are in doubt because of the political atmosphere in Westminster.
According to the Financial Times, the green paper caused an “extraordinary” row between May and Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, who didn’t want his own policies to be published in the final day of her government.
Despite being previously a supporter of preventative measures like sugar taxes, the “sin taxes” put Hancock at odds with new Prime Minister Boris Johnson who said preventative health measures were a “creep of the nanny state” during the leadership contest. The measures could be easily forgotten during the switch to a Johnson administration. Despite this, the UK’s antitobacco laws are some of the toughest in the world. The tobaccoban in 2007 prevented smoking in public spaces, including bars and restaurants. Introduced under New Labour, this came after scientists revealed the damage passive smoking does to people’s lungs. However, while smoking rates have decreased, the drop has taken longer than hoped. Plans had been in place to make the UK smoke-free by 2025, but rates have remained stubbornly high at around 15.0%.