• March 29, 2024

Plain packaging – a sham becoming a shambles

In the UK, as many as 100 Conservative MPs are expected to vote against plans to impose standardized packaging for cigarettes and fine-cut tobacco, according to a story in The Daily Telegraph.

There was widespread surprise in January when a junior health minister, Jane Ellison, said MPs would be given a vote on the plans during the current session of parliament, which is due to end on March 30. Ellison said standardized packaging was a “proportionate and justified response” because of the health risks associated with smoking.

However, many observers had assumed that the legislation would not be introduced until after May 7, when the UK is due to go to the polls in a general election, and there seems to have been confusion within the government’s ranks.

The cabinet is split over the plans and at least two senior cabinet ministers were said not to have been forewarned of the announcement.

Some opponents of standardized tobacco packaging are aggrieved that the government has not yet published the report on its 2014 consultation on the measure.

And one Conservative MP has warned that the government must publish the report quickly “[i]f the consultation process is not to be dismissed as a sham…”

Whatever happens, the vote is likely to go in favor of standardized packaging because the issue is backed by the opposition Labour Party and the Conservative Party’s coalition partner, the Liberals.