Major update to cigarette packs could help smokers save 2,000 a year

By Steve Barclay, Health Secretary 

Smoking kills.

Tobacco remains the single leading preventable cause of illness and death in the UK.

Up to 2 in 3 lifelong smokers will die from their habit.

Smoking is also the biggest cause of cancer.

For every five cancer deaths in England, one is linked to smoking.

This grim data sends a clear message: if we want to improve the health of the nation and help make the NHS fit for the future, we need to do more to get people to quit for good.

That’s why we’re announcing a new consultation to pack health advice into tobacco products to help do just that.

Many will remember how cigarette companies used to put trading cards into their packs with many becoming collectables.

Grandparents had the little trading cards etched with faces of famous footballers or cricketers of the day, which were often swapped with friends.

I’m sure Sun readers will remember seeing their collections.

The reality was that these fun cards were used to stiffen soft packets and actually encouraged people to take up the habit.

Now we want to take that idea, and turn it on its head. 

Instead we’d like to use the new cards to promote positive messages to help people stop and signpost smokers to advice and support.

I know many Sun readers are smokers and that many will have tried to stop to get healthier and save some money as times are tough

And we hope these new cigarette cards will help point people to the helpful schemes we have set up to aide smokers quit for good.

They’re already in use in places like Canada and Israel, where evidence shows they can give people the nudge they need to quit.

The UK is rightly seen as a world leader in reducing smoking rates – which are currently at their lowest level on record.

We recently announced a raft of measures to stamp out smoking, including providing 1 million smokers in England with free vape kits alongside expert support to help them quit.

This swap to stop scheme – the first of its kind in the world – will use vapes to help smokers move away from more harmful tobacco products.

At the same time, we’re clear that we don’t want kids to start vaping.

We’ve closed a loophole to make it illegal for companies to give out free vapes to kids, and we’re looking at how to go further to protect children from getting into vaping in the first place.

But we know there’s more to do, particularly given that smoking is a direct contributor to the six groups of conditions covered by our Major Conditions Strategy, which account for 60% of all ill-health and early death in England.

Smokers who start young can expect to die 10 years earlier than if they’d never picked up a cigarette, and tobacco use is significantly higher among those suffering with long-term mental health conditions.

And then there’s cancer.

One in every five deaths from all cancers in England are connected to smoking.

You’re 25 times more likely to get lung cancer if you smoke than if you don’t.

We’re already taking action to tackle cancer.

The Prime Minister recently announced a new national lung cancer screening programme for England – targeted at current and former smokers – which is expected to detect cancer early in 9,000 people and deliver almost a million extra scans.

But prevention is better than cure.

And by taking further measures to stub out smoking, we want to deal with these deadly health problems before they start.

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