And still the madness continues ...

Forest subscribers will shortly be in receipt of our February e-newsletter.

It begins:

Last month, to many people's surprise (including our own), public health minister Jane Ellison announced without warning that the Government would press ahead with plain packaging of tobacco before the election.

After a three year campaign (we launched the Hands Off Our Packs initiative in February 2012) it's hard to stomach when there is still no evidence that plain packs reduce smoking rates or stop children smoking.

As for the theft of an entire industry's intellectual property, we'll leave you to judge what message the Government is sending other industries – food and drink, for example – with this extraordinary act of highway robbery.

There's also the little matter that eleven EU member states have challenged the UK Government's regulations on plain packaging (and we've yet to see the Government's response). And let's not forget that the EU's own revised Tobacco Products Directive comes into force next year and it includes larger health warnings on the front and back of the packet. So why is the UK Government gold plating EU regulations?

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