Achieving a smoke-free country—a best buy for the UK chancellor

The UK government has set out a bold mission to improve the nation’s health. This is an urgent and essential task, not just to improve individual wellbeing, but because poor health is a huge drain on the economy. The mission will require action across all arms of government. Unless smoking is tackled,1 there is no prospect of delivering on Labour’s manifesto commitment to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions.2 We therefore urge the chancellor to use the budget on 30 October to invest in creating a smoke-free UK as quickly as possible and make the tobacco industry pay.

The rationale for investing to end the tobacco epidemic could not be stronger. The annual cost of smoking to individuals, public services, and the wider UK economy is £93bn. The …