In my brief speech on Monday night (see previous post) I repeated something I have said several times before:
Today smoking, obesity and alcohol are frequently mentioned in the context of levelling-up, and there seems to be an unchallenged consensus that tackling all three should be part of that process.
I don't see it that way at all. For me reducing smoking rates by forcing people to quit isn't levelling up, it's dumbing down, because it treats smokers – the majority of whom are from lower socio-economic groups – as if they're stupid, uneducated idiots for choosing to smoke in the first place.
In my view, instead of insulting people’s intelligence and curtailing their freedoms with further restrictions on the sale of tobacco and where you can light up, governments should concentrate instead on creating the conditions for them to make 'healthier' choices for themselves, because it's clear that while many people smoke for pleasure, many also smoke to relieve some of the stress that may be caused by their circumstances or their environment.
In other words, instead of punishing adults who smoke with punitive taxation and other measures designed to force them to quit, often against their will, government should focus on the underlying reasons why a greater proportion of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds are smokers.
It may take substantially longer to achieve the Government’s ‘smoke free’ target but that’s a small price to pay if, in the meantime, ministers are addressing far more important issues like housing, jobs and poverty.
That, to me, is the essence of levelling up – improving people's lives not through coercion and prohibition, but by tackling some of the factors that lead us to eat, drink and smoke to excess.
As if on cue, the Chancellor has today doubled-down on smokers from lower socio-economic groups with the extraordinary decision to raise duty on hand-rolled tobacco by a whopping TEN percent above the tobacco escalator (which is inflation plus two per cent).
That means, as of tonight, the cost of hand-rolled tobacco will increase by almost 17 per cent.
The reason he's doing this is because hand-rolling tobacco has been less expensive than manufactured cigarettes, which is why many smokers have switched in recent years, but it seems petty beyond belief to target poorer smokers like this.
In particular, what really strikes me is the contempt for working class smokers and others on low wages, or even unemployed.
I get it, I really do, that if money is tight everyone has to make sacrifices, which may include smoking or drinking less, but I always come back to something former Labour health secretary John Reid once said.
That's something else I mentioned it in my speech on Monday when I said:
I come from a comfortable middle class background so it’s probably not my place to say this, but listen to the words of former Labour health secretary John Reid. A former heavy smoker, Reid represented one of the poorest constituencies in the country, and he understood why many people smoke.
In 2004, when anti-smoking campaigners were demanding a ban on smoking in all enclosed public places, including every pub and working men’s club in the country, Reid resisted calls for a blanket indoor smoking ban. He even gave a speech in which he said that for a young single mother living on a sink estate, a cigarette might be one of the few pleasures she had.
Naturally the middle class do-gooders in the public health industry came down on him like a ton of bricks but, given John Reid’s background and the constituency he represented, I’d take his word ahead of theirs any day.
Anyway, here's my response, on behalf of Forest, to today's Autumn Statement:
"The Chancellor has just raised two fingers to working class people across the country.
"Raising duty on hand-rolled tobacco by such a punitive amount is going to push more smokers further into poverty or into the hands of illegal traders including criminal gangs.
"This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it's been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes.
"Instead of punishing adults who smoke with punitive taxation designed to force them to quit, the government should focus on the underlying reasons why a greater proportion of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds are smokers.
"Often it's because of their environment but, instead of improving the conditions in which many people live, this Tory government is determined to force smokers to give up a habit that may relieve some of the stress caused by their environment."
How depressing that four years after winning one Red Wall seat after another on the back of the slogan 'Take back control', the current Tory prime minister and his chancellor are determined to impose their middle class anti-smoking agenda on those very same people on the grounds that 'we know best and we are going to force you to comply'.
Update: I understand that the duty on cigarettes has gone up as well, albeit by not as much:
Tobacco Duty Rates – Duty rates on all tobacco products will increase by RPI +2%. To reduce the gap with cigarette duty, the rate on hand-rolling tobacco will increase by RPI + 12% this year. These changes will take effect from 6pm on 22 November 2023 and will be included in the Autumn Finance Bill 2023.
It's my understanding, therefore, that having increased duty on cigarettes by approximately 12% in March, a further increase of RPI +2% (in October RPI was 6.1%) will add an additional 8%, so the total increase on duty on cigarettes in 2023 will be close to 20%.
The exact figures are a bit unclear so don't quote me, but there have nevertheless been whopping increases in duty on both cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco this year.