Health Bill [Lords]

For years, the tobacco industry has been saying that advertising is all about market share and that has not been true. In this case, it is, but it was not true when there was general advertising of tobacco products in this country. It was a case for the defence and it was a very weak one. Since we brought a general advertising ban into this country there has been decrease in smoking, which I think is directly related to the fact that the companies cannot promote tobacco. The fact that this means of promoting tobacco when one walks into a shop is no longer available—the displays had got very sophisticated, with tobacco next to shelves of chocolate and so on—will further restrict the attraction of tobacco when people, young or old, go into tobacco outlets. This is a progressive move. I think we agreed to ban vending machines, too, in the last few minutes. The Government should be complimented on what they have done over the past 10 years in attacking this scourge of ill health in this country. Tobacco causes 50 per cent. of our health inequalities; 50 per cent. of people who smoke will die prematurely because of tobacco. We have probably gone as far as we can at this stage in stopping the promotion of tobacco. The Government’s smoking cessation programmes and targets for smoking cessation over the past few years have been very good, too; they have helped to reduce tobacco’s attack on the health of the nation and we are making progress. I thank the Government for eventually doing the things that people were arguing for in this House 20 or 30 years ago. They were done through gritted teeth as far as the tobacco companies were concerned, but they were done none the less.