By Chris Green
The Scottish Government is considering whether to introduce a minimum price for tobacco after research suggested it could save hundreds of lives.
The policy would operate in a similar way to minimum unit pricing for alcohol, resulting in the cheapest packets of rolling tobacco and cigarettes becoming more expensive.
It is hoped that this would lead to a fall in the number of people smoking, with the largest impact expected to be in the most deprived areas.
It follows a study commissioned by Public Health Scotland (PHS), which said a minimum price of 80p per cigarette would mean a 20-pack could not be sold for less than £16.
The research, conducted by the University of Sheffield, also found that even a lower 60p minimum price could lead to more than 16,000 people stopping smoking in the next 10 years.
This would result in almost 1,500 fewer hospital admissions, reducing the burden that smoking places on Scotland’s NHS, as well as preventing 285 deaths.
The policy would also be applied to packets of rolling tobacco, which is cheaper than factory-produced cigarettes, with 0.5 grams being equivalent to one cigarette.
“A minimum price for tobacco would decrease the number of people who smoke and consequently bring health benefits”
Public Health Scotland spokesperson
A 60p minimum price would result in a 30g packet of rolling tobacco being sold for no less than £36, while an 80p level would push the price up to £48.
In the wake of the research, PHS described pushing for the policy as a “key activity” in its most recent operating plan, which runs until the end of March next year.
This said that public health officials would “work at four nations level to advocate for the inclusion of a minimum price for tobacco in government legislation”.
Asked if it would be taking the policy forward, the Scottish Government said it wants to see a “tobacco-free Scotland” by 2034, and it is looking at the findings as part of this.
Public health minister Jenni Minto said: “We are carefully considering the findings of PHS research into minimum pricing as part of our on-going implementation of the Tobacco and Vaping Framework.
“Smoking is a huge burden on our NHS and social care services and contributes significantly to health inequalities, which is why our goal is for a tobacco-free Scotland by 2034.
“Research commended by experts has estimated that our minimum unit pricing for alcohol policy has saved hundreds of lives and is likely to have averted hundreds of alcohol-attributable hospital admissions.”
A PHS spokesperson added: “Smoking continues to contribute to over 8,000 deaths and nearly 90,000 hospital admissions in Scotland every year.
“It’s one of the leading causes of ill-health and early death that disproportionately affects those living in our most deprived communities.
“PHS commissioned the University of Sheffield to undertake statistical modelling to identify what impact a minimum price would have on smoking in Scotland.
“The modelling indicated that a minimum price for tobacco would decrease the number of people who smoke and consequently bring health benefits.
“It would need to be part of a package of measures, including providing more support for people to quit smoking.”
“Smoking is a huge burden on our NHS and social care services and contributes significantly to health inequalities”
Public health minister Jenni Minto
Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland, a charity which campaigns to reduce the harms caused by smoking, said the organisation is in favour of the policy.
“We have been advocating for minimum pricing for tobacco to be considered by government as a potentially strong measure to reduce smoking rates over the next decade, particularly among people living in our poorest communities,” she told 1919.
She added that existing tobacco taxes are absorbed by companies by hiking the prices of their premium products, allowing them to make rolling tobacco and budget cigarette brands more affordable.
“We want this changed by also setting upper retail price limits, and introducing a levy on corporate tobacco profits, which are estimated to be up to a whopping 50 per cent,” she added.
“By making the cheapest tobacco products less affordable through the introduction of minimum pricing for tobacco, which rises annually to align with inflation, the greatest positive public health impact would be expected in our most deprived areas where smoking rates and deaths by smoking-related non-communicable diseases are highest.
“Introducing a minimum price would also help to prevent uptake of smoking by young people whose behaviours are especially price-sensitive.”
In the same way as minimum pricing for alcohol, the money raised from a similar policy on tobacco would go to tobacco firms and retailers, rather than the government.
The Scottish Conservatives claimed the policy is “unlikely to work”, arguing that minimum pricing for alcohol has not been as effective as hoped.
The party’s health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “The SNP’s botched minimum unit pricing policy has failed to tackle problem drinking – and its proposal to extend this to tobacco pricing is unlikely to work either.
“More needs to be done to encourage Scots to stop smoking – but minimum unit pricing is not the silver bullet to tackle this problem. It would just pile more costs onto low-income Scots.
“Instead of these gimmicks, SNP ministers should focus on prevention, especially by educating children about the dangers of smoking before they ever start.”