Shops Banned From Displaying Cigarettes

Tobacco has been banned from displays in shops as the latest anti-smoking law comes into effect in England.

The new rules mean all cigarettes and tobacco products will be kept hidden behind screens or under the counter in large shops and supermarkets.

Small shops will follow suit in 2015, allowing them more time to refit shelves and cabinets.

Smoking causes 80,000 preventable deaths each year and costs the NHS £5bn annually.

Anti-smoking campaigners argue displays had become increasingly colourful and appealing as other forms of tobacco advertising were closed down.

The changes are the latest in a long line of legislative measures aimed at reducing smoking rates.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the Government hopes the move will discourage young people from taking up the habit.

"We want a range of measures that help to reduce smoking in this country, and in particular, that help make a significant impact on young people starting smoking," he told Sky News.

"That was why, for example, last October in England we introduced the ban on tobacco vending machines, which was a route by which young people were able to buy cigarettes.

"This will also make an impact, not just in terms of sales, because hopefully supermarkets were preventing under-age sales of tobacco, but reducing visibility and starting thinking about smoking."

The Department for Health points to evidence that in countries such as Ireland and Canada, where displays have been scrapped, smoking in the young has fallen by 10%.

Robin Hewings, from Cancer Research UK , told Sky News: "We have good research to show that when you remove tobacco displays in shops then it reduces the overall visibility of it in people's lives.

"The way they're sold at the moment, like razor blades or batteries or crisps, makes them seem like normal everyday products, when really they are not - they are a very dangerous drug."

More than eight million people smoke in England, and opponents of the ban say it is unlikely to be a case of out of sight, out of mind.

Simon Clark, director of smokers' group, Forest , said: "There is no justification for a display ban.

"There are tens of millions of people in Britain today who have never smoked and have never been encouraged to smoke by the sight of a packet of cigarettes in a shop or anywhere else.

"After some initial confusion existing smokers will ask for their regular brand and carry on smoking."

It is likely similar measures will eventually be introduced in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in future.