As we create a smokefree generation – what next for ASH?

As we draw closer to the totemic Tobacco and Vapes Bill passing, ASH has been considering the future and what’s needed to move towards a smokefree country. As a result, today we are launching a new 5-year strategy which builds on our past successes and sets out our next steps towards a world free from the harm caused by tobacco.

ASH approaches the next five years with optimism, clear in our mission and confident that our work is valued by stakeholders from the heart of government to the frontline of stop smoking services. Our work over the next five years aims to free more people from harms of tobacco, allowing them to live longer, healthier and happier lives.

The challenges we face continue to mount. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the UK. Although smoking continues to decline, the rate of decline has slowed, and health inequalities are at risk of widening. For individuals who smoke, quitting smoking will continue to be the most important thing that they can do to improve and protect their health.

It is also a blight on the economy. Smoking imposes a substantial financial burden on English society—costing an estimated £43.7 billion annually through lost productivity, healthcare, social care, and fire-related expenses, far outweighing the revenue raised from tobacco taxes.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is a once in a lifetime opportunity to move closer to a future free from the harm of tobacco. However, once the Bill has passed, the challenge will be to sustain the same level of political commitment to tobacco control, to support the 6m people in England who still smoke. Cross-party support remains vital, especially in protecting funding for smoking cessation initiatives in the face of economic pressures. Uncertainty about future funding highlights the need for a sustainable funding model such as a levy on the tobacco industry.

The tobacco industry has a huge global influence and is seeking to recast itself as ‘part of the solution’ through promotion of its harm reduction products, while it continues to profit from sales of trillions of cigarettes every year. We will continue to be vigilant in challenging their attempts to present a distorted view of the UK’s approach. Harm reduction is only one element of a comprehensive tobacco control.

So, what does all this mean in practice? ASH is a small charity - to maximise our impact, we must focus on shifting the levers for change at the greatest scale. This means prioritising national action with the aim of securing legislative, strategic, regulatory and funding change.

However, we recognise that important decisions happen at all levels of government. We will work with our international partners and seek to secure UK Government funding and commitment on global tobacco control, and we will work at regional and local levels to support leadership and promote comprehensive tobacco control policy.

Our strategic aims for 2025–2030 are:

1. Transformative legislation enacted so that national legislative levers are fully utilised to secure impact at scale. This starts with seeing through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and ensuring it is fully implemented. But this is not the end, we will continue to seek legislative opportunities to introduce a polluter pays levy and pursue other novel tobacco control legislation as the opportunity arises.
2. Reduced smoking inequalities so that through a focused approach to narrowing inequalities, the impact of smoking on disadvantaged populations is minimized. We will focus attention not only on overall rates of smoking, but on disparities between groups, building coalitions and holding governments to account for reducing the gap.
3. Comprehensive tobacco control strategies properly funded so that demand and supply-side factors contributing to smoking are addresses across all tiers of government and with sufficient funding. Continuing to work with our valued partners, we will make the case for comprehensive strategies and the funding to deliver them properly.
4. Strong organisation equipped to deliver on our goals so that ASH is fit to continue to deliver on its mission into the future. We will retain a small but motivated and skilled team, to effectively deliver on our objectives.

As we start on the journey of putting this strategy into practice, we will be guided by our vision, mission and goals.

Our vision is for a world free from the harm caused by tobacco.

Our mission is to build evidence of what works and campaign to end tobacco use.

Our goals are:

• No one starts:
  • In five years fewer than 2% of 15 year olds smoke
  • In ten years fewer than 1% of 15 year olds smoke
• Everyone stops:
  • In five years smoking rates 7.2%
  • In ten years smoking rates below 5%
• No profit in tobacco:
  • UK tobacco company profits limited to those of average consumer profits (10% versus 60%)
  • UK regulation is future proofed against industry innovation

Our funders and partners want to see us take a bold and urgent approach to pursing a world free from the harm of tobacco.

ASH’s core strength has always been in our ability to bring coalitions together - together we are greater than the sum of our parts. We hope you will continue with us on this journey.