Simon Clark - Taking Liberties

Another year another Budget and another increase in tobacco duty.

Twenty-six years ago Chancellor Nigel Lawson made the headlines for NOT putting extra duty on tobacco and alcohol.

It caused such a stir that Forest campaigns director Chris Tame was invited to appear on Wogan with Dr John Moore Gillan of the British Lung Foundation.

To view the interview click on the image below.

A non-smoker and co-founder of the Libertarian Alliance, Chris subsequently became director of Forest (1990-1995). He died of bone cancer in 2006.

Update on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at 15:54 by

Simon Clark

In his Budget statement Osborne announced that tax on tobacco wouldn't change.

Bit disingenuous. "No change" on tobacco duty means "inflation plus two per cent" not "frozen" (like wine).

The RPI is one per cent so the increase is three per cent, or 16-17p for a packet of 20.