Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the annual loss to the Exchequer of revenue from domestic sales of cigarettes, cigars and tobacco from the 2028 financial year onwards, as a result of the proposed gradual phasing out of their legal sale.

As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 October 2023, the Government is creating the first smokefree generation, by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 14 this year or younger will never be legally sold tobacco products. This will prevent future generations from ever taking up smoking, as there is no safe age to smoke. The ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’ command paper sets out the proposed actions the Government will take to tackle smoking and youth vaping^[1]. The Government launched the ‘Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping’ consultation on 12 October on the smokefree generation policy detailed in the command paper^[2].

Once final policy decisions are confirmed, the impact of those decisions on the public finances will be assessed and reflected in the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast.

A smokefree generation will save the NHS billions over the long-term and put cash back in the pockets of millions of families across this country.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stopping-the-start-our-new-plan-to-create-a-smokefree-generation#:~:text=This%20publication%20sets%20out%20proposed,ensure%20the%20law%20is%20enforced

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/creating-a-smokefree-generation-and-tackling-youth-vaping#:~:text=Consultation%20description,ensure%20the%20law%20is%20enforced.