Plain Packaging approved by House of Lords! - Quit Support

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Plain Packaging approved by House of Lords!

chloeoreilly profile image
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Controversial regulations enforcing standardised tobacco packaging will come into effect next year after they were approved by the House of Lords.

Peers agreed the move without a vote after MPs overwhelmingly backed the move last week .

Tory Lord Naseby led the fight against the plans in the Lords, but eventually withdrew his bid to block the regulations, admitting he knew he would lose a vote.

Objections to the Bill were dropped as Lord Naseby accepted he would lose a vote.

Health minister Earl Howe, introducing the move to peers, said it was an important step towards a "smoke-free generation".

Powers for standardising packaging were in the Children and Families Act 2014, but they needed approval from both Houses of Parliament before coming into force.

In the Commons the regulations, which will come in from May next year , were approved by a majority of 254, with 104 Tory MPs opposing the plan on a free vote.

The regulations standardise the packaging of all cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco.

Apart from mandatory health warnings, the outside of packs will have to be a uniform dull brown, with the brand in a fixed-size grey typeface.

Lord Howe said: "We have looked carefully at the evidence and it shows that introducing standardised packaging is highly likely to bring important public health benefits, primarily by reducing the appeal and attractiveness of tobacco packs, especially with children and young people."

He added: "Smoking remains a critical public health concern. Smoking is an addiction and it is largely taken up in childhood and adolescence.

"The choice to smoke is not like other choices and is often not made as an adult decision.

"The introduction of standardised packaging is likely to introduce important public health benefits and, as part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy, will bring us a step closer to a smoke-free generation."

He said available evidence from Australia, where plain packaging legislation is already in force, was that it would lead to a fall in cigarette sales.

Lord Howe said the Government would fight any challenge to the legislation from tobacco companies.

"We believe that these regulations are a proportionate and justified response to a major public health challenge and will be defensible in the courts," he said.

And he said Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs had said there was "no evidence" the policy would have a "significant" effect on illicit sales.

Lord Naseby, a former deputy speaker in the Commons, claimed that "hundreds, perhaps thousands, of jobs could be put at risk" in packaging firms.

He said: "The introduction of plain packaging will not, in my judgment, produce the results claimed and I base that on the evidence from Australia, which has been authenticated by varying government bodies there.

"Frankly, plain packs are little more than a smugglers' charter. They offer criminals a wonderful template which will allow them to copy tobacco packaging easily and therefore infiltrate the supply chain more effectively."

And he added: "Is this really an example of the enterprise economy or is it just another example of the UK wishing to be a world leader?

"I don't think this motion we have before us is needed, the evidence is not there."

He said it would affect "trade marks and intellectual property rights".

Labour peer Lord Faulkner of Worcester, a long-time campaigner for the ban, said the tobacco industry was following a familiar strategy in its attempt to prevent the plain packaging policy coming into force.

"It is precisely because the regulations will work that the tobacco industry has been spending such enormous sums of money in their attempts to defeat them," he said.

But independent crossbencher Viscount Falkland warned of "unintended consequences" from the change and asked: "How can you interfere with the marketing and sales of a legal product?"

He added: "If you don't like smoking, ban it. Don't try to pretend this is going to deal with it."

Labour former health minister Lord Warner accused opponents of the move of putting forward the "same old rubbish" as was used in trying to reject claims of the impact of passive smoking.

Congratulating the Government on introducing the legislation, he asked Lord Naseby if he had enjoyed the Eagles concert he attended last year as a "guest" of tobacco company JTI Gallaher Ltd.

Lord Naseby said he had declared the interest in the parliamentary register.

Tory former minister Lord Blencathra said he recently joined the Lords and Commons Cigar Club because he was concerned about the way the Government had "caved in to some of the fanatics in the anti-smoking brigade".

Lord Blencathra accused the Department of Health of having scraped together "every possible bogus argument" to support its case and warned all the evidence suggested that plain packaging would lead to an increase in the illicit tobacco market.

Former professor of neurology and independent crossbencher Lord Walton of Detchant, a former smoker, said smoking had been "one of the most appalling health hazards of the age".

He told peers: "Any effort of any kind which can prevent young people from taking up this appalling habit is well worthwhile."

For Labour, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath said he supported the regulations which his party had "vigorously campaigned for".

He said opinion polls had shown "very, very strong support for the measure".

"It is not as if we have an authoritarian measure imposing a sort of public health view on the public.

"What we have here is a sensible measure that actually the great majority of people in this country support."

Lord Naseby said that around 25% of MPs had been against the ban and he suspected it would be a similar number in the Lords, but admitted it would be a waste of time to force a vote.

The move was welcomed by Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash).

She said: "This is a decisive moment in the long and patient struggle to reduce, and then end, the horrors that the tobacco industry has brought to our country and to the rest of the world.

"Today we should remember the millions of people who have died too young from diseases caused by smoking, and the families and friends they left behind.

"And we should resolve for good and all that this misery must not be inherited by our children."

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "This is an immense triumph. Today parliamentarians stuck to their guns - despite the desperate efforts of tobacco lobbyists - in the name of the 200,000 children in this country who are every year enticed to take up smoking.

"Having introduced standardised tobacco packaging, the UK can stand tall as a world leader in promoting public health."

Simon Gillespie, chief executive at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This clampdown on tobacco packaging means that today's children have a much better chance of not smoking.

"Cigarette packs that are plastered in colourful, eye-catching advertising will soon be condemned to history and completely unrecognisable to the next generation of children.

"With less attractive packaging and larger health warnings, it will be far more difficult for cigarette manufacturers to avoid the fact that smoking kills."

Article from dailym.ai/1GQsY8W

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chloeoreilly
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11 Replies
roneo profile image
roneo

What a load of crap! Evidence from Australia is that plain packaging reduced tobacco sales???? Fact: sales tax was increased by 50% in 2010. From 2012 it increased by 12 1/2% per annum for the next 4 years. THAT'S why sales dropped. People addicted to nicotine couldn't give a rats what the packet looked like. If it were that objectionable, one could buy a 50p case with pretty flowers to slip them into. Governments aren't interested in stopping people from smoking. They'd prohibit them if that were the case. Far easier to demonise the LEGAL product AND the user to justify the exorbitant taxes. Don't get sucked in by the plain packaging legislation, it's all window dressing. Governments have a vested financial interest in smokers staying hooked. And don't get me started on the medical costs of smoking related illnesses. In 2010 the health related costs in Australia were $350 million. The government revenue???? $7 billion of which not on cent was quarantined for health funding.

Ok, I have had my rant. Quit smoking because it does NOTHING for you except satisfy your nicotine addiction. Just don't be sucked in by government initiatives or nicotine replacement companies & drug companies like Pfizer than they give a toss whether you succeed in quitting or not.

glolin profile image
glolinLONG TERM WINNER in reply to roneo

i feel the same too Roneo, The Australian government did not invest anything into helping people quit. It is a joke and just revenue raising. They put the prices up, banned smokers from outdoor eating areas etc but there was no support of anyone wanting to quit. I am really intrigued by these quit nurses that i here about on this forum. There is nothing like that available in Australia.

monky profile image
monkyAdministrator35 Months Winner in reply to glolin

Hmmm, I will have to enrol as a quit nurse and come down der then eh :o :D :D

glolin profile image
glolinLONG TERM WINNER in reply to monky

:D :D Loves it

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monky profile image
monkyAdministrator35 Months Winner in reply to glolin

LMAO :D :D :D

roneo profile image
roneo in reply to monky

Oh Pete, I just had this VERY disturbing image of you in a snug fitting little nurses uniform. I hope the nightmares don't return.

monky profile image
monkyAdministrator35 Months Winner in reply to roneo

Was I that bad :o :D :D :D

roneo profile image
roneo in reply to monky

The uniform looked cute, but the application of the makeup looked a tad overdone.

roneo profile image
roneo in reply to glolin

When governments, & I'm talking about bipartisan support for the increased taxes, when government increase taxes to "discourage people from smoking" & ALSO project increase in revenue of $5 billion, it's more than evident that it was never intended to achieve the "desired" outcome. I can cope with the absence of genuine government support in Australia but the sheer hypocrisy of governments who treat people's addiction as a "cash cow" is truly galling.

glolin profile image
glolinLONG TERM WINNER in reply to roneo

I'm hearing ya :) :)

monky profile image
monkyAdministrator35 Months Winner in reply to roneo

Good evening Ron I hope your well :)

Yeah, got to agree with you there Ron, just wandering where they would get the money from if everybody quit smoking and drinking :o

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