Packets of 10 cigarettes to be stubbed out by 2016

CIGARETTES sold in packets of ten are to be banned by the EU to deter young people from taking up smoking.

They are likely to be outlawed within three years, along with flavoured versions. Menthol cigarettes, however, were reprieved until 2022 after fierce lobbying by the tobacco industry.

Health warnings on packets are to be increased in size to cover 65 per cent of the area. The European parliament passed the draft Tobacco Products Directive yesterday after years of wrangling between politicians, the industry and health campaigners.

A proposal to classify electronic cigarettes as medicinal products was omitted from the draft, but a Department of Health spokesman said it would continue with its plan to regulate them in the same way as nicotine patches.

Ukip deputy leader Paul Nuttall said: ‘Banning packs of ten will not stop people smoking – it will just make them buy more cigarettes and make them poorer.’

Maura Gillespie of the British Heart Foundation, urged ministers to consider bringing in plain packaging.