Shropshire doctor welcomes plain packaging for cigarettes

The Government announced that MPs would have a free vote on the matter of standardised packaging before May's election.

Oakengates doctor Martin Deahl, who recently returned from Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone, said he welcomed anything which would restrict the sale of cigarettes, although he questioned how much impact the change would have.

He said: "As far as I am aware, there is no evidence from anywhere in the world that it will make any significant difference.

"However, I take the view that anything which might dissuade people from smoking is a good thing.

"I'm in favour of more restrictions, and if the Government's medical advisers are able to find evidence that this will make a difference, then that is to be welcomed."

Dr Deahl said he was aware of concerns it could benefit the illegal tobacco trade, but said that should be a secondary consideration.

Health groups have described the proposed new laws as a "momentous step" in creating a smoke-free generation in Britain.

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said the Government would table regulations to enforce standardised packaging in England by May 2016.

Further regulations banning smoking in private cars carrying children will be enforced from October this year if signed off by Parliament.

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "The benefits of standardised packaging were comprehensively laid out, and the alleged risks comprehensively dismissed, in last year's independent review commissioned by the Government.

"Doing so would mark a huge victory for public health, and a momentous step towards saving some of the 200,000 young people who currently take up this deadly habit each year."

Cancer Research UK's chief executive, Harpal Kumar, said: "Two-thirds of smokers start before the age 18, beginning an addiction which will kill half of them if they become long-term smokers.

"By stripping cigarette packs of their marketing features, we can reduce the number of young people lured into an addiction, the products of which are death and disease."

Business groups criticised the move.

Christopher Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said it was a gross infringement companies' right to use their trademarks and design their own packaging.

"We need only look at Australia, where the black market has grown and youth smoking has risen. To pursue this grandstanding policy in spite of the Australian experience is sheer negligence."

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "This legislation could end up being remembered as a Smugglers' Charter."

Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies, said: "I have reviewed all the evidence, and agree that standardised packaging would be a positive move for public health, particularly the role it could play in helping to prevent the uptake of smoking by children."

However, Conservative MP Dame Angela Watkinson, a life-long non-smoker, said people should be free to make their own choice.

"There can't be anyone in this country, young or old, who does not know about the health risks of tobacco," she said.

No specific dates for debates or votes had been decided.

The standardised packaging will specify colours for packaging, insisting they must be dull brown outside and white inside.

Only specific text, such as a brand or variant name, will be allowed. Health warnings and marks to prevent counterfeits will continue.