Smoking costs the UK economy more than £19 billion a year, according to a new report which urges the government to increase tobacco taxes to help society to become “smoke free”.
The health impact of tobacco can limit the ability to work and if smokers had never started, overall earnings could be 1.9 per cent higher, research by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) think tank showed.
It comes as tobacco companies face growing pressure from investors and regulators to reshape their businesses.
The industry has also been investing in products such as cannabis and, in the case of Philip Morris International, the maker of Marlboro, contentiously into pharmaceuticals. The company has faced a backlash over its plans to acquire Vectura, a respiratory drugs company whose products treat smoking-related diseases. ILC’s research suggests that smoking impairs economic activity by increasing disability as smokers and ex-smokers live fewer years in good health.
“UK annual tobacco duties are worth £9 billion a year — less than half the amount [of the economic cost of smoking],” the report found. It said that although smoking was in decline, 14.1 per cent of adults still smoke and many former smokers live with long-term effects such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.
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The report found that a typical life-long smoker can expect to lose ten years of life expectancy compared with someone who has never smoked. The think tank said funding for smoking cessation services had “dropped since austerity measures were put in place in 2009”.
Les Mayhew, head of global research at ILC, said: “The pandemic has shown that smokers and ex-smokers are more likely to end up in hospital if they have Covid. They work fewer years, are less productive and quit work sooner. Their later years are more likely to be marred by ill health which means less time for consumption.”
The tobacco industry has been diversifying into “reduced risk” products, such as e-cigarettes, as regulations tighten.
ILC said that the government needed to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21; reduce affordability by increasing tobacco taxes; reduce the size of the illicit market by introducing a licensing system for retailers and wholesalers; and support smoking cessation programmes locally.
