Plain fag packets plan up in smoke
David Cameron has scrapped plans to force all cigarettes to be sold in plain packs, The Sun can reveal. Health ministers had been weighing up the move for a year.
Campaigners had insisted making packets bland would put smokers off — and stop kids from starting the habit.
The PM initially backed the plan, but has been persuaded it would damage the packaging industry. There were also concerns it could cost £3billion in lost tax revenue and tie up the Commons in bitter arguments.
Mr Cameron has now ordered the proposed law to be pulled from next week’s Queen’s Speech.
A Whitehall source said: “Plain packaging may or may not be a good idea, but it’s nothing to do with the Government’s key purpose. The PM is determined to strip down everything we do so we can concentrate all our efforts on voters’ essentials. That means growth, immigration and welfare reform.”
If you listen very carefully, you can hear the weeping in Australia.
Well done Dave. That's more like it.
