Council bosses urge government to tighten smoking rules, but ministers reject chance to squeeze tobacco firm profits

Bosses at Durham County Council (DCC) are pushing for ministers to bring in tougher rules on buying cigarettes, including raising the minimum age limit for purchase.

They have also called for a squeeze on profits of tobacco firms and for the extra cash to be put into prevention and scheme to help smokers kick the habit.

But their efforts appeared to hit a stumbling block as MPs rejected plans for a ‘polluter pays levy’.

“Part of [this] is around funding for anti-smoking campaigns, tougher levies on the manufacturers so that we can hopefully get more funding back into prevention,” said Cllr Paul Sexton, the DCC’s cabinet member for health and chair of the county’s health and well-being board.

“I personally think increasing the age limit to 21 is a no-brainer.”

He added: “The evidence suggests that a lot of people start smoking at an early age – a lot of people start smoking because it’s a trend without understanding the serious consequences.”

Speaking at Tuesday’s (March 29) meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Ailsa Rutter OBE, director of tobacco control programme Fresh, urged the council to lobby for the introduction of a ‘polluter pays levy’ on tobacco.

She added this could help turn off “the tap” of potential new customers for cigarette makers.

Cllr Ted Henderson, cabinet member for children and young people’s services, highlighted the “scary” statistic of 15.5% of mums still smoking at the time of delivery.

Adult smoking rates in County Durham stand at 17%, compared to 15% in the North-east, but it has nearly halved since 2005.

A House of Commons debate on the Government’s Health and Care saw MPs vote 275 to 18, to reject a Lords amendment to impose a ‘polluter pays levy’ on tobacco firms to fund anti-smoking efforts.

The Government, which has set itself a target to be smoke free by 2030, argued it wanted to continue with its “proven” approach to encouraging people to quit smoking.

Health Minister Edward Argar said the proposals would be “very complex to implement” and take too long to implement.

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