Simon Clark - Taking Liberties

Further to my previous post, here's the full transcript of the exchange between a local tobacco packaging manufacturer and David Cameron in West Yorkshire today:

Mike Ridgway, tobacco packaging manufacturer:
Prime Minister, welcome to Yorkshire and welcome to the centre of manufacturing. Yesterday the front page of the Guardian reported that the government had decided to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products.

Last week at PMQ you said that you were following Australia and you were monitoring the situation. Can you confirm whether that decision has been taken yet? And the reason I ask is that we have three very successful businesses here Bradford area, employing many hundreds of people, and they really want to know what the latest is on is on that, concerning their future.

David Cameron:
OK, well, first of all, the decision has not been taken, I think, as I said in the House of Commons, which you saw some weeks ago. I think we have to look at all of these issues around smoking and health, and we have to look at the evidence, and we have to work out the right course to take.

In terms of the packaging, it is only Australia I think so far that has made this decision. I think we have to accept the links between smoking and health are now proved beyond all peradventure. I think we also have to accept that, while some of us might have taken a different view at the time, restrictions on, for instance, smoking in public places have had a pretty dramatic health effect, and so I think we have to deal with the evidence.

But I think we have to treat people and businesses fairly as we do so, and we should properly consider all of the statistics and all of the evidence before making that decision.

Forest press release to follow.

Update on Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 17:07 by

Simon Clark

News Release Thursday March 7, 2013 16:50hrs

NO DECISION ON PLAIN PACKAGING SAYS PM

“We have to treat people and businesses fairly” David Cameron tells meeting of manufacturers in West Yorkshire

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David Cameron says the Government has not decided whether to introduce plain packaging on tobacco products.

Speaking at a meeting in West Yorkshire today, the prime minister responded to a question from a tobacco packaging manufacturer by telling his audience:

“I think we have to accept the links between smoking and health are now proved beyond all peradventure. I think we also have to accept that, while some of us might have taken a different view at the time, restrictions on, for instance, smoking in public places have had a pretty dramatic health effect, and so I think we have to deal with the evidence.

“But I think we have to treat people and businesses fairly as we do so, and we should properly consider all of the statistics and all of the evidence before making that decision.”

The Prime Minister’s comments follow a report this week that the government had decided to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products.

Quoting a “senior Whitehall source“, a national newspaper had claimed that legislation would be announced in the Queen's speech in May.

According to David Cameron, however, "The decision has not been taken".

Welcoming the prime minister’s remarks, Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest which runs the Hands Off Our Packs campaign, said:

“There is no credible evidence that plain packaging will have any impact on youth smoking rates or encourage existing smokers to quit.

“Legislation must be evidence-based and we hope David Cameron’s comments represent a more pragmatic, less dictatorial approach to policy making.”