The “shy” approach by the government with regard to business regulation is a passage from the promises of a year ago to only cope with the Jibes of the Nanny State to guarantee the long -term future of the NHS (editorial, September 9). This approach is also in contradiction with public feeling. Recent surveys have shown that 74% of people want the government to favor people’s health on businesses.
With millions of people affected by avoidable diseases caused by tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy foods, we need higher action from the government to correspond to rhetoric – including unit prices to prevent strong alcohol from being sold at a lower cost, a levy on the benefits of the tobacco industry and the implementation of compulsory policies to improve food and drinks.
This will not only benefit NHS, but will support the government’s growth ambition, given the heaviness of poor health on productivity and the wider economy.
Hazel Cheeseman CEO, action on smoking and health; Professor Sir Ian Gilmore President, Health Alliance alcohol; Katharine Jenner Director, Obesity Health Alliance
The government’s ambition to move to prevention is something that many have tried but not achieved. There is an inter-party consensus, supported by public support, that we must rid our country of the tobacco epidemic and put an end to smoking, a main cause of preventable death. The tobacco bill and vapes is the possibility of doing so, but is not hierarchical in parliament.
As long as tobacco companies can take advantage of, they will try to delay and weaken the regulations that save lives. A levy from them would weaken this incentive while increasing 700 million pounds sterling per year, which could finance efforts to improve public health. Companies based on the profits of drug addiction and disease should be nowhere near the development of policies. It’s just that they pay for the damage they cause.
Mary Foy
Co -president, multipartite parliamentary group on smoking and health
