Budget tobacco tax hike on No Smoking Day

8th March 2017 – The cost of tobacco has risen on budget day by more than inflation. The price hike has coincided with national No Smoking Day.

Health campaigners, who said the expected rise was perfect opportunity for smokers to assess the cost of their habit, will be satisfied that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, stuck to a government pledge to raise cigarette prices by 2% above the cost of living each year.

However, they will be disappointed that Mr Hammond ignored pleas to put up prices even more.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) wants smokers to use budget day as an opportunity to quit and save themselves a packet.
 

Saving thousands

It says a 10-a-day smoker who quits could save themselves about £23.50 a week, or more than £1,200 a year. For someone earning average pay – around £20,000 a year after tax – that's the equivalent of giving themselves a 6% pay rise.

"For a 20-a-day smoker, over the course of a year, they'd be spending well over £2,000, and for a premium price brand it would be more like £2,500, which is an awful lot of money," says Amanda Sandford, ASH's information officer. "You could go on a really expensive holiday or a cruise or [put down a] part-payment on a car – all sorts of things if you weren't spending it on tobacco."

Falling smoking rates

UK smoking rates have been in steady decline over the past few decades. 

In 2015, 17.2% of all adults smoked, down from 20.1% in 2010.

Of the 4 UK countries, 16.9% of adults currently smoke in England. For Northern Ireland, this figure is 19%, Scotland 19.1%, and Wales, 18.1%.

Scotland and Wales have seen the largest fall in smoking rates in recent years.

In 2015 across the UK, 19.3% of men and 15.3% of women smoked cigarettes.

Between 2010 and 2015, smoking has become less common across all ages in the UK, with the largest fall seen among those aged 18 to 24 years.
 

Smoking campaigns

Pressure on smokers to quit intensified in 1984 when the first No Smoking Day was run on Ash Wednesday. Since then, it's become an annual fixture each March.

More recently, Stoptober has been added to the calendar. This campaign takes a different approach by encouraging smokers to quit for a month.

Stop smoking campaigns always highlight the damage to health from tobacco use. The message in Scotland this year is on how quitting can boost overall health and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, as well as on saving money.

This year's decision to stress the financial incentives stems from how cigarette prices will rise after Chancellor Philip Hammond gets to his feet in the House of Commons.