Member

The Economist’s analysis, which I think makes a lot of sense, is that lots of people who might previously have smoked have given up or, happily, have not started. The people who are left smoking, very sadly, are the people who suffer from very serious addiction and find it very hard to give up. They are not very “price elastic”, so the price just keeps going up. I am afraid that, while we might all hope, like the Government say, that we will see not just a smoke-free generation but a smoke-free nation, that is not a realistic prospect any time in the future. We can tackle both some of the false messages going to smokers and the litter and pollution problem from cigarette filters by adopting Amendment 33.