Big Tobacco must pay: New report demands urgent action from MPs to end smoking within a generation

A major new report launched today by the influential All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health calls for all political parties to back a bold, fully funded strategy to make smoking obsolete within 20 years.

With smoking still claiming 74,000 lives annually and costing England a staggering £43.7 billion a year, the report – A Roadmap to a Smokefree Country - sets out an ambitious plan to cut the number of smokers by 2 million within this Parliament and put the UK on track for a smokefree future.

Building on the progress of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which will phase out the sale of tobacco, protecting children from getting addicted to smoking, the report outlines a comprehensive roadmap to support the UK’s 6 million smokers in quitting. At its core is a proposed ‘polluter pays’ levy, which would require Big Tobacco – who bring in a staggering estimated £900 million in annual profits – to contribute £700 million annually to fund initiatives that reduce smoking rates and reduce the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest as well as easing the financial burden on taxpayers. The amount required from Big Tobacco would taper as tobacco consumption falls.

Other key recommendations include swift action to curb youth vaping by using new powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to restrict marketing of vapes in ways that appeal to children and a call to regulate all tobacco products as strictly as cigarette laws.

Mary Foy MP, Co-Chair of the APPG says: “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.”

Bob Blackman MP, Co-Chair of the APPG member, says: "Smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death, costing lives and draining public finances. No government can afford to overlook the devastating impact of smoking on our economy and the NHS. This Report sets out a comprehensive plan that accelerate our progress to a smokefree 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 adds: “Tackling smoking can be a blueprint for broader prevention efforts – combining national legislation with local support to drive real change. With the right approach, this Government now has the chance to achieve what once seemed impossible: a society free from the harms of tobacco. And the chance to create a nation of people who can live longer and healthier lives, by preventing, diagnosing and treating illnesses earlier.”

Furthermore, the report calls for a £97 million annual investment in targeted interventions to support disadvantaged communities – unlocking £3.6 billion of savings to public finances and delivering an £18.9 billion boost to the UK economy over the next five years. While the wealthiest are set to reach less than 5% smoking rates this year, the most deprived areas will not achieve this until 2050 unless urgent action is taken.

These new recommendations emphasise the urgent need for a strategic, targeted approach to closing the health gap, accelerating progress toward a smokefree future, and securing the long-term sustainability of the NHS.

Snapshot of the proposed new measures:

• Slash smoking numbers by two million in five years – Delivering immediate public health benefits.
• Make Big Tobacco pay – Introduce a “polluter pays” levy, raising an estimated £700m in its first year to fund public health initiatives.
• Targeted support for disadvantaged communities – Invest an additional £97m per year to unlock £3.6bn in public savings.
• Ban cigarette filters – Stop the false perception of safety and tackle environmental harms.
• Maximise the impact of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill
  - Introduce urgent regulation on advertising, packaging, and flavour descriptors to protect children.
  - Ensure all tobacco products are regulated in the same way as cigarettes.
  - Ensure nicotine pouches are appropriately regulated to limit their appeal to children and protect customers.
  - Ban all cigarette filters to remove the false sense of protection they provide and reduce the impact of smoking on the environment.
  - Hold a wide evidence-based consultation on the proposed extension of smokefree and vape free places and close the loophole allowing cigar lounges to continue operating.
  - Develop a licencing scheme for tobacco and vaping products with a clear public health agenda.
  - Require tobacco industry to publish sales data to support local, regional and national tobacco control strategies.
• Introduce new mandatory warnings – Implement cigarette pack inserts and on-stick health warnings to deter smoking.
• Keep driving down the affordability of tobacco – Ensuring tobacco remains less affordable is a key strategy in reducing consumption. The report calls for maintaining the tax escalator, reviewing the Minimum Excise Tax, and closing the tax gap between factory-made and hand-rolled tobacco. Additionally, sustained investment is needed to combat the illicit tobacco market – building on two decades of successful enforcement strategies – to both disrupt illegal supply chains and reduce consumer demand.
• Continue to be a world leader in tobacco control through funding global adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – Continue to provide modest funding to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC2030) project of around £2 million a year to support implementation of the treaty in low-and-middle-income countries.

The 2007 indoor smoking ban, introduced under a Labour Government, remains one of the most significant public health achievements of our time. Thanks to sustained tobacco control efforts, smoking rates had fallen to 20% by 2010, with smoking among 15-year-olds more than halving from 30% in 1998 to 12% by 2010 – laying the groundwork for the smokefree generation legislation later proposed by the Conservative Government. However, smoking remains the UK’s leading cause of premature death and ill health with major impacts on cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer-related health, leading to conditions like heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).