A movement started under Tony Blair
It is also the culmination of three decades of interventionist government policies that have led to a collapse in the number of smokers. While in 1996, 28% of Britons over the age of sixteen, or 13 million people, smoked, in 2023 smokers only represented 11.9% of adult Britons, or 6 million people.
“The development of an intergovernmental plan to combat smoking by Labor [gauche] when he came to power in 1997 was a key moment: measures then multiplied to reduce the appeal and availability of cigarettes.assures Nicholas Hopkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College, and president of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), a lobbying group in favor of the fight against smoking created in 1971 by doctors. By titling his report “Smoking kills”, Prime Minister Tony Blair then showed his determination to tackle “the number one preventable cause of premature deaths” in the country.
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Political consensus
For once, a political consensus has emerged on the harmfulness of tobacco. The Conservative Party rallied behind Labor’s measures and even went further than it, as evidenced by the legislation proposed in 2024 by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, even if it was ultimately not adopted before the general election on July 4. “The debate is no longer whether to act, but how quickly we can do it”believes Nicholas Hopkinson. “Indeed, the vast majority of people and elected officials understand that smoking is an addiction acquired during youth, so the argument saying that these measures hinder the freedom of action of individuals is only taken into consideration by libertarians the most radical.”
On the other hand, he indicates that research and communication work was necessary to rally as many people as possible, in particular to counter “studies financed by the tobacco industry, which has always tried to deny or minimize the effects of cigarettes on health and the economy“. He and his colleagues thus “demonstrated that the economic cost of cigarettes for the government and for businesses in terms of loss of productivity, health expenses and social assistance for the sick greatly exceeds tax revenues from the sale of cigarettes”. His organization Ash estimates the cost of cigarette consumption at 20.2 billion euros per year.
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Transition to electronic cigarettes
The fall in the number of smokers was also strongly favored by the decision of the government and health authorities to “promote the transition to electronic cigarettes among smokers, because they will substantially reduce the risks to their health”indicates the former practicing doctor.
The figures confirm it: 9.8% of the population, or 5.1 million Britons over the age of sixteen, vape at least occasionally. Half of them are smokers or former smokers. The new legislation, which will ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes and all e-cigarettes to minors next year, also aims to address the lack of regulation, which has allowed the industry to target young people. In 2023, 20.5% of 11-17 year olds had already smoked an electronic cigarette, according to a survey carried out by Ash.
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