As the single leading behavioural cause of preventable death across our country, responsible for around 1 in 4 cancer deaths and 64,000 premature deaths per year, reducing smoking is crucial for ensuring we live longer, healthier lives.

Significant progress has been made, with smoking rates now the lowest on record, thanks to duty on cigarettes being doubled since 2010 and continued funding of stop smoking services. However, we must reduce smoking rates further given the substantial cost to the economy and the NHS. This is why the Government plans to legislate to ensure that children aged 14 or younger - anyone born on or after 1 April 2009 – can never legally be sold tobacco products. By 2040, these proposals will ensure that smoking is phased out completely among young people.

This legislation will be focused on those who sell tobacco products or buy it on behalf of someone else. The Government has never and will nor criminalise smoking in this country. In addition, I want to clarify that a national licence scheme is not being proposed, which could have placed a greater burden on convenience stores.

While I cannot sign up to the specific pledge and recommendations from Cancer Research UK's smoke free campaign, I fully support the Government’s commitment to ensuring the UK is smoke-free by 2030 and believe that the actions mentioned above will help achieve this goal.