Why Big Tobacco should pay for the cost of smoking

For the past three years, the IPPR’s Commission on Health and Prosperity has been making the case that better health is Britain’s greatest untapped route to economic strength. We’ve argued that investing in the nation’s health can address some of our biggest challenges:

• A workforce crisis, where illness forces people out of employment.
• Stagnating productivity, with too many struggling to work effectively while unwell.
• Rising public spending, with avoidable healthcare costs and sickness-related benefits putting pressure on the public finances.
• Deep health inequalities that both drive and are driven by economic imbalance.

Though the poor health of our population and our prosperity challenge have multiple, complex causes, smoking continues to be a core driver of all these problems.

Every year, smoking leads to £27.6 billion in lost productivity through early deaths, reduced employment, and lower earnings. An estimated 230,000 people are out of work due to smoking-related illness and more than 1 million people are pushed into poverty by the financial burden of smoking. Smoking is the leading cause of health inequalities and accounts for half of the difference in life expectancy between the most and least affluent communities in England.

What is clear is that if we are serious about building a fairer, more productive, and ultimately, more prosperous nation, we must be serious about ending smoking once and for all.

Over the course of this Parliament, there is a huge opportunity to accelerate our journey towards a Smokefree Britain –starting with the passage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which will create the world’s first ever smokefree generation. But we can’t stop there.

A recent report from the APPG on Smoking and Health makes a compelling case for a comprehensive roadmap to ensure that everyone stops, no one starts, and, crucially, that there is no profit in tobacco.

The interventions set out in the roadmap could be fully funded by a levy on the extreme profits of tobacco companies, something the IPPR recommended in our final report from the Health and Prosperity Commission. The case for a levy is strong.

Firstly, in a difficult fiscal environment, it provides a clear, sustainable, in-built mechanism to fund prevention. Clearly tying revenue from the levy to a smokefree plan provides a neat solution for a government trying to avoid large, unfunded spending commitments.

Secondly, the imposition of a levy is in line with public opinion. While governments can, and should, be bold on public health reform it always helps when the public is on board. According to ASH’s polling, more than 77% of people back a levy requiring tobacco companies to fund quit support and prevention measures. The IPPR’s own research strongly echoes this finding – a powerful moral sentiment exists amongst the vast majority of the public that health damaging industries not working people should pay for the problems they cause.

Finally, a levy is an important part of a wider push for a healthy industrial strategy – a key ask of the IPPR’s Commission. If the Government is serious about supporting the health creating industries of the future, it should also be serious about standing firm against industries which damage health. Shaping the market, so there is no profit in tobacco, is crucial for the health of our nation and for our future prosperity.

It is clear that a roadmap for a smokefree Britain funded by a levy on the industry that does the most damage to our nation’s health is not just the right thing to do—it is the smart thing to do. Smoking causes untold damage not just to the health of our population but to the health of our economy too. If the Government is looking for popular policy that prevents illness, boosts growth, and pays for itself, it should start with the APPG’s brilliant report. A Smokefree Britain is within reach. Let’s make it happen.