§ Next, I come to tobacco. With effect from 6 pm tonight, the total tax on a packet of 20 cigarettes will go up by 11p—a duty increase of 7.3 per cent. The duties on other tobacco products will rise by the same proportion.
§ In addition, I have decided to strengthen the commitment on tobacco duties that the Government have given in the past. I intend to increase tobacco duties on average by at least 3 per cent a year in real terms in future Budgets.
§ I believe that the approach we are adopting in Britain is the most effective way to reduce smoking. It is clearly nonsense for some European countries to ban advertising to protect state-owned tobacco industries, but then impose markedly lower levels of tax.