Big tobacco should be forced to pay ‘polluter pays levy’ – MPs

Tobacco firms should be subject to a “polluter pays” levy which would fund schemes to help reduce smoking rates, a group of MPs said.

While “world leading” laws to phase out smoking are passing through Parliament, MPs said that more could be done to help the millions of people who are “trapped by addiction”.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill “does not mean that smoking is ‘job done’,” as there are still six million smokers in the UK, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health said.

A new report by the group of MPs says that the Government must ensure that “everyone stops, no-one starts, and there is no profit in tobacco”.

The report makes a series of recommendations, including:

– The tobacco industry should be forced to play a “polluter pays levy” to raise £700 million to fund initiatives that lower smoking rates and help close the gap in healthy life expectancy.

– It should also be compelled to publish sales data to “support national tobacco control strategies”.

– Ministers should also “drive down” the affordability of tobacco to incentivise people to quit.

– Cigarette packs, which have already got health warnings on the front, should also have inserts inside the packs which would “reinforce awareness of health harms”.

– The Government should set a goal for there to be two million fewer smokers by summer 2029 and for smoking to be “obsolete” in the UK within two decades.

– Ministers should also use the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to close a loophole allowing cigar lounges to continue operating.

– The Government should also “reduce barriers” people face to access smoking cessation aids, while reducing the number of young people who take up vaping.

If the Tobacco and Vapes Bill becomes law, it will become an offence to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1 2009, gradually phasing out the sale of tobacco.

The Bill also includes a total ban on vape advertising and sponsorship, including displays seen by children and young people such as on buses, in cinemas and in shop windows, bringing them in line with tobacco restrictions.

Disposable vapes will be banned from June 2025 under separate environmental legislation.

Labour MP Mary Foy, co-chair of the APPG, said: “The UK is set to introduce world-leading new laws that will protect future generations from the enormous harms of smoking, but we cannot ignore the millions of people still trapped by addiction.

“The only people who benefit from smoking is the tobacco industry who generate huge profits from peddling misery and illness.

“It’s time for them to pay for the damage they cause.”

Conservative MP Bob Blackman, a member of the APPG, added: “This report sets out a comprehensive plan that accelerate our progress to a smoke free UK. Further delay comes at too great a cost.”

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund, who contributed the foreword to the report, added: “This Government now has the chance to achieve what once seemed impossible: a society free from the harms of tobacco.”

Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Ending smoking in the next 20 years is a realistic goal with the right scale of ambition, planning and funding.

“Smoking costs society in England £43.7 billion a year. A polluter pays levy on the tobacco industry would ensure that the tobacco industry is the one picking up the tab, not taxes on working people.

“The Government should consult on a levy ahead of the autumn budget to allow time for legislation to be bought forward this year.”

Jonathan Blades, from Asthma and Lung UK, added: “It’s a no-brainer that a ‘polluter pays levy’ be imposed on the tobacco industry. They continue to make massive profits from the harm they have caused without penalty.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The government is delivering the world leading Tobacco and Vapes Bill, creating the first smoke-free generation and ending the cycle of addiction and disadvantage.

“To clamp down on youth vaping, the Bill will ban vape advertising and sponsorship, and provide powers to regulate flavours and packaging, and how and where they are displayed in shops.

“We’re supporting current smokers to quit by investing an additional £70 million for local Stop Smoking Services, extending our Swap to Stop and National Smoke-Free Pregnancy Incentive schemes and working to ensuring all NHS hospitals offer ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation services.”

Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said: “Smoking is a legitimate habit enjoyed by millions of people. As long as they know the health risks it is no business of government if adults choose to smoke.

“A tobacco levy will be passed on to the consumer, driving up the price of cigarettes and tobacco, fuelling illicit trade and enriching criminal gangs.

“Further measures to reduce smoking rates are unnecessary, illiberal, and could be counter-productive.”