Health Bill [Lords]

I am delighted to follow my predecessor as chair of the all-party group on smoking and health. In 1998, the Government published their seminal White Paper, "Smoking Kills", and so brought to an end the lost decade of tobacco control. Smoking rates have been falling fast. From 1978 to 1988 the adult smoking rate in England fell from 40 per cent. to 30 per cent. Between 1988 and 1998, it snaked within the 25 to 30 per cent. range. The White Paper set out a plan to help those smokers who wanted to quit and to restrict the industry’s capacity to recruit new young smokers. Across the country, a network of local cessation services was established. Tobacco advertisements on billboards came down and the disgrace of tobacco industry sponsorship was put to a stop. No longer were the makers of this deadly product free to buy a link with sporting achievement in the minds of our young people. As a result, we have seen a return to year-on-year reductions in smoking rates so that now only two adults in every 10 smoke. "Smoking Kills" did what it was supposed to do, but a new strategy is needed. The main challenges of a tobacco control strategy remain to help smokers who want to quit and to constrain the industry’s capacity to ensnare young people. The Bill takes up those challenges but it is not enough on its own. The whole House awaits the publication of a new tobacco control plan, of which this Bill is only a part, that will build on the success of "Smoking Kills" and help make smoking history for our children. I strongly support the Government’s proposal to do away with the power walls of tobacco promotion at the point of sale.