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Cigarettes get plain green packets from this weekend

Plain packaging will be standard for all cigarette packets sold in the UK from this weekend.

Smokers will also have to cough up extra cash to pay for their tobacco, with packs of 10 cigarettes banned and the cheapest pack costing £8.82 after the move.

The new rules - called the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD2) - will apply to all EU countries selling tobacco products.

New standardised green packaging will carry large graphic warnings of the dangers of smoking, designed to deter young people from taking up the habit.

All packs must contain a minimum of 20 cigarettes to allow enough box space for the newly enlarged warnings, and hand-rolled tobacco pouches must also contain a minimum of 30g of tobacco.

Menthol cigarettes will be completely banned by 2020.

The TPD2 mandate will also introduce EU-wide tracking and tracing of tobacco products from 2019 and new controls on e-cigarettes.

The EU Commission hopes that the new measures will create a 2% drop in cigarette consumption over the next five years.

However, the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association (TMA) says they believe the new restrictions will boost the black market in tobacco, as smokers seek out cheaper alternatives elsewhere.

Insisting there was "no evidence" that youth-uptake would be reduced, the TMA cited French cigarette sales figures from March, which were 4% higher than the same period last year.

France adopted plain cigarette packaging in January this year.

While the law to standardise packaging was brought in last May, shops were given a year to sell off old stock and get ready for the changes.

A series of court cases testing the legality of the regulations had initially delayed the implementation of the directive.

Chancellor Philip Hammond introduced the new minimum excise tax duty on cigarettes in the UK in his March Budget, adding an average of 35p to a pack of 20 cigarettes.