At 1.30 this afternoon there's a debate on tobacco control in Westminster Hall at the House of Commons.

The leading figures appear to be Alex Cunningham (Labour), Norman Lamb (Lib Dem) and Mrs Flick Drummond (Conservative). No, I've never heard of her either so it will be interesting to hear what she has to say.

The driving force behind the debate is almost certainly ASH, hence this press release, issued this morning:

Members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health will today be calling on the Government to publish its promised new Tobacco Control Plan without further delay. The Government committed to a new plan after the previous one expired in December 2015 and to publication in summer 2016, but summer has passed and there is still no publication date.

There is widespread public support for Government action to limit smoking. A recent large public poll found that over a third (35%) of adults in Britain thought the Government’s activities to tackle smoking were about right, while nearly 4 in 10 (39%) thought the Government was not doing enough. Only 11% thought the Government was doing too much. [2]

In today’s debate members of the APPG will be focusing on the stark health inequalities across the country, of which smoking is the major driver. The importance of tackling health inequalities was recognised by Theresa May when, in her maiden speech, the new Prime Minister committed her Government to “fighting against the burning injustice that if you’re born poor you will die on average nine years earlier than others.”

The release quotes Tory MP Bob Blackman MP who is chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health:

"The UK has an excellent record in tackling smoking but we can’t afford to rest on our laurels. The evidence is clear: without a renewed strategy there’s a real risk that smoking rates will rise again.

"I recognise the need to control public expenditure but measures to drive down smoking are cost-effective and will result in reductions in heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory disease, with the potential to save the over-stretched NHS billions of pounds a year.”

Leaving aside the crass economic ignorance of that remark (fewer smokers mean far less revenue for the Treasury), Blackman added that he "strongly believed that the tobacco industry should be required to contribute to the costs of treating people with diseases caused by smoking".

"Given the appalling damage the tobacco industry causes, and given that the major companies are vastly profitable, I cannot see why they should not be required to make a greater financial contribution to help solve the public health disaster they have worked to create. I can’t imagine a more appropriate application of the polluter pays principle."

Anyway, this is part of Forest's response:

Forest has criticised members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, run by the anti-smoking group ASH, who are urging the government to publish a new Tobacco Control Plan "without further delay".

Simon Clark, director of Forest, said: "Like Brexit, the government must take its time and get its strategy right. How can ministers introduce new measures when we're still waiting for an independent review of existing policies, and measures such as plain packaging have yet to be fully implemented?"

He added: “Anti-tobacco campaigners are lobbying the government to introduce new tobacco control measures. Research however suggests there is little public support for further anti-smoking policies.

"What is equally clear is the public’s desire for a common sense approach to policy making in the area of tobacco control. Regulation should not be made at the behest of taxpayer-funded lobby groups but on the basis of credible, independent evidence."

You can read it in full here.

I'll keep you posted on this afternoon's debate. Last I heard very few MPs had noted their intention to speak so it could be a bit of a damp squib. We'll see.

Update: Well, I listened to the 'debate'. Needless to say it was completely one-sided and predictable.

The best bit was at the end when new health minister Nicola Blackman declined to give a publication date for the Government's new Tobacco Control Plan which she said had to be "evidence-based". That would certainly make a change.

Pushed on whether this meant this year or next she replied, sweetly, "You'll have to wait and see."

Oh, I wish I'd seen Deborah Arnott's face at that moment.

PS. I've no evidence for this but I wonder if Deborah's long-standing influence at the Department of Health may be coming to an end.

Given the nature of ASH's press release, and the minister's subsequent statement, they don't appear to be singing from precisely the same hymn sheet.

We can but dream.

Update: Tobacco control plan debate (Hansard).