THURROCK’S two MPs have written to the Secretary of State for Health urging him to cancel plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes.
Conservatives Jackie Doyle-Price and Stephen Metcalfe are among 50 MPs who believe the proposals will have “extremely negative consequences” for the country and won’t discourage people from smoking either.
The letter to Andrew Lansley they have signed states: “There is no reliable evidence that plain packaging will have any public health benefit, no country in the world has yet to introduce it.
“However, such a measure could have extremely negative consequences elsewhere.
“This proposal will be a smuggler’s charter.
“We are worried that standardised packaging would make smuggling simpler and exacerbate this already critical problem as criminal organisations would only be required to master one pack design.”
The letter adds the proposals threaten more than 5,500 jobs in the UK tobacco industry and more than 65,000 jobs in the associated supply chain. The MPs are also worried about commercial freedom.
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