§ Mr. Llewellynasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why, in view in the established relationship between tobacco-smoking and lung cancer, smoking by retirement pensioners is subsidised; and whether he will withdraw the subsidy and 165W increase the basic retirement pension for all pensioners by the amount that would be saved.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftThe tobacco token scheme, which enables retirement pensioners who smoke to buy tobacco at a reduced price, was introduced solely to meet the special circumstances arising out of the heavy increase in tobacco duty in 1947; it is therefore not, in any correct sense of the term, a subsidy.