‘Councils can help government eliminate smoking’ - LGA on ONS smoking figures

Responding to latest ONS figures on adult smoking habits, which show that the proportion of the population in England who smoked cigarettes in the UK has fallen to 11.9 per cent in 2023, Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board, said:

“Council public health teams work hard to help reduce smoking rates and it is testament to their efforts that smoking rates continue to fall.

“They can help the Government achieve its ambition of eliminating smoking in England and we look forward to the publication of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

“We are also calling on the Government in the Autumn Budget to increase investment in the public health grant, which has suffered a cut of 27 per cent in real terms since 2015/16."