John Redwood MP writes: I am today consulting constituents on the government policy of placing further restrictions on the sales of tobacco products prior to the vote on these in Parliament. I would welcome your thoughts.
The government proposal in their own words: "Proposed new legislation will make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products – effectively raising the smoking age by a year each year until it applies to the whole population.
Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer – causing around 1 in 4 cancer deaths and leading to 64,000 deaths per year in England. It puts huge pressure on the NHS, with almost one hospital admission every minute attributable to smoking and up to 75,000 GP appointments each month taken up by smoking-related illness.
Smoking will not be criminalised, and our phased approach means anyone who can legally buy cigarettes now will not be prevented from doing so in future."
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