A government-commissioned review with a total of 15 interventions has suggested the age to legally buy tobacco should be raised every year, reports The Guardian.

In order to meet the government’s target of becoming smoke-free by 2030, the review has suggested 15 interventions including raising the minimum age to buy tobacco from 18 by one year every year until no one is able to legally buy it any longer. New Zealand is already following a similar strategy so that those 14 and under will never legally be allowed to buy tobacco.
Further interventions suggested in the review that was led by Dr Javed Khan, the former chief executive of the children’s charity Barnardo’s include, promoting vapes as an effective tool to help people quit smoking, improving prevention in the NHS, having a tobacco licence for retailers, adapting cigarette packaging as well as a mass media campaign to encourage smokers to quit.
“Without immediate and sustained action, England will miss the smoke-free target by many years and most likely decades. A smoke-free society should be a social norm – but to achieve this we must do more to stop people taking up smoking, help those who already smoke and support those who are disproportionately impacted by smoking. My holistic set of recommendations for government will deliver this, whilst saving lives, saving money and addressing the health disparities associated with smoking,” Dr Khan said.
According to The Guardian, the review also calls for an extra GBP 125 million a year to be invested in smoke-free policies, with a further GBP 70 million a year ringfenced for stop smoking services. The report reads: “If the government cannot fund this themselves, they should make the polluter pay and either introduce a tobacco industry levy, or generate additional corporation tax, with immediate effect.”
The recommendations made in the review will now be considered by ministers with the results being published as part of the government’s health disparities white paper, reports The Guardian.