2030 smoke-free target likely to be missed

A new report from Cancer Research UK has warned that England will fail to be smoke-free by 2030 if current smoking trends continue.

The charity points to new figures which indicate that England is not expected to reach smoke-free until 2037 – seven years behind the ambitious target set last year by Health Secretary Matt Hancock in the government’s Green Paper on Health Prevention.

Currently, 14 per cent of adults in England smoke cigarettes. The government wants to see this drop to five per cent by the end of this decade, but plans on how to achieve this are yet to be set out. Cancer Research UK, alongside other health charities, stress that investing in stop smoking services and national education campaigns that encourage smokers to quit will be essential, as both have had significant cuts in recent years.

The new projections show around a 20-year gap in smoking rates between the least and most deprived people in England, with the richest expected to achieve smoke-free in 2025, and the poorest not reaching it until the mid-2040s.

To reach the smoke-free 2030 target, smoking rates need to drop 40 per cent faster than projected. A fixed annual charge on the tobacco industry, which would provide funding to reduce the £11 billion burden smoking related illnesses cost society in England every year, is also seen as key to achieving this.

Katrina Brown, Cancer Research UK statistics manager, said: “Our modelling suggests that if the 2030 target is achieved, there could be around 3.4 million fewer smokers in England compared with today. But unless government acts to make smoking rates fall faster, we’re unlikely to reach the target. Smoking is the biggest cause of cancer, leading to around 120 cases of cancer in England every day, so it’s vital that the government tackles tobacco to prevent illness and suffering.”