Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the (a) reasons for trends in and (b) potential impact of smoking rates on the level of duty paid on tobacco sales in the 2023-24 financial year.

The Office for Budget Responsibility discusses drivers of tobacco duty receipts in relation to the tobacco duty forecast on their webpage - Tobacco duties - Office for Budget Responsibility.

Receipts are driven by inflation (CPI and RPI), real household consumption and underlying trends in tobacco consumption.

The downward trend in tobacco consumption has accelerated in recent years, partly reflecting changing attitudes and the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes.

HMRC publishes commentary on tobacco duty receipts with the Tobacco Bulletin - Tobacco statistics commentary April 2025 - GOV.UK. The 12% decrease in tobacco duty receipts between 2022/23 and 2023/24 was primarily driven by falling cigarette receipts (£7,568 million to £6,535 million).

The Office for National Statistics publishes commentary on adult smoking habits in the UK where they have reported a reduction in the estimated proportion of current smokers in the UK from 12.9% in 2022 down to 11.9% in 2023.