Government plans to push all Brits to quit smoking in eight years
The government has said it's still planning for a 'smoke free' Britain by 2030, with the hopes of getting almost all Brits to quit smoking by then.
Promises had been made to publish a report laying out how the government will get almost everyone in the UK to quit smoking by 2030 later on this year, but doubts have now been cast over whether it's still coming.
If you've not been watching the news, a couple of months ago the government collapsed and the last prime minister was kicked out, and since then things have been pretty chaotic.
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On Tuesday (11 October) Thérèse Coffey, health secretary and deputy prime minister, was unable to say whether the new government would still be publishing the plans to cut down on smoking.
A 'smoke free' Britain doesn't strictly mean everyone in the UK would go without cigarettes, instead it'd involve getting the number of smokers down below five percent.
Former health minister Steve Brine MP said it would be a 'massive own goal' if the plans were scrapped considering smoking is 'biggest cause of cancer in the world today'.
According to The Guardian, insiders are saying there is 'no chance' that extra measures to tackle smoking will be brought in.
The Department for Health and Social Care said it was 'inaccurate' to say plans to bring down smoking were being dropped, though they didn't reveal when their plans to hit the 2030 target would be published.
At the moment the government's objective to get people to ditch smoking within the next eight years still stands.
The objective to get a 'smoke free' Britain by 2030 was first set out in 2019 as part of plans to improve the nation's health and raise the life expectancy of the average Brit by five years.
Whether the government plans to stick to the 2030 target or not, a recent independent review into efforts to get the nation to quit smoking found that ministers were set to miss their target by at least seven years.
The report also said that the poorest parts of the UK weren't on track to get below five percent of people smoking until 2044.
It said that more action was needed to help people quit smoking, as to get back on target the government would need to increase rates of giving up cigarettes by 40 percent.
One of the ways the government could get closer to achieving their aims of a 'smoke free' UK is by steadily raising the age requirements on being able to buy cigarettes.
While people who are legally allowed to smoke could continue to do so and be encouraged to quit by other means, it would pull the metaphorical ladder up and away from future generations before they got addicted.
Another measure which could prove popular with the public is banning smoking outdoors, with around 60 percent of Brits thinking the government should crack down on it.
LADbible has contacted the Department for Health and Social Care for comment.
Joe Harker