Luciana Berger: The next step in the struggle against tobacco

Shadow Public Health Minister Luciana Berger says after getting into a spin on standardised packaging, David Cameron should get behind Labour’s plans to protect future generations from the perils of smoking. With 200,000 children taking up smoking every year, we need a comprehensive package of measures to address this problem. This is about tackling childhood addiction, not adult choice. That’s why Labour has announced plans to ban adults from buying tobacco products on behalf of children. It is already illegal for young people to purchase cigarettes themselves until the age of 18. Remarkably however, it is completely within the law for an adult to walk up to a shop counter, buy a pack of 20 and hand them straight to a child standing next to them. This sort of underage proxy purchasing is already banned when it comes to alcohol. It doesn’t make sense not to have the same penalty for tobacco products when they kill 100,000 people across the UK every year. Most young smokers have their cigarettes bought for them by another person, so it’s vital that we address this - just as lawmakers already have in Scotland. Labour has tabled an amendment to the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime & Policing Bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords this week. Ministers should prove they are serious about protecting future generations from the dangers of smoking and support our proposal. If not, Labour peers will be ready to force a vote in Parliament early next year. Given the Prime Minister has a new habit of following Labour’s lead, I hope he’ll do the right thing. This week’s astonishing u-turn on a u-turn on standardised cigarette packaging marked a remarkable eight months during which the Government’s position flip-flopped from yes, to no, to maybe. Standardised packaging has effectively turned into David Cameron’s very own political boomerang. He keeps trying to throw it away, but it keeps coming back. First Government sources briefed in March that a bill to enforce standardised packaging would be included in the Queen’s Speech. It wasn’t. Having then shelved the idea, Downing Street this week decided to u-turn again, leaving health ministers dizzy trying to keep up. But even this latest flip-flop marks a retreat. The former Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, was unequivocal that it made sense to legislate for less attractive packaging as the “evidence is clear that packaging helps to recruit smokers.” The new Public Health Minister however has chosen to hide behind another review and given no firm commitment that standardised packs will definitely be introduced. We don’t need more delay and another review – we have already had a review. The Government commissioned its own systematic review of all the evidence on standardised packaging last year. It found that standardised packaging makes cigarettes less attractive to young people and that it makes health warnings more effective. All the Royal Colleges and health experts are united behind this clear and compelling case. Their voices have made a real difference in forcing the Government to reconsider. How unjust then that charities and campaigners will be prevented from ever raising issues like this in an election year if the Government’s Lobbying Bill goes through in its current form. Only David Cameron could design a law that would do nothing to stop lobbyists like Lynton Crosby from advising the Prime Minister on tobacco policy, but could stop cancer charities from campaigning about it. The only people satisfied by this or the delay will be the vested interests of Big Tobacco. That’s why Labour is pushing for action now. Around 570 children light up for the first time every day. That means over 80,000 children will have taken up smoking since the Government first u-turned on tobacco in the summer. 70,000 more will have had their first cigarette by the time the Government’s review reports in March next year. David Cameron needs to quit dithering. He should back Labour’s plans, crack down on proxy purchasing and take action now. · Luciana Berger MP is the Shadow Minister for Public Health