Handing in our petition to Number 10
We launched our petition in May, marking World No Tobacco Day, to the Prime Minister asking him to better fund stop smoking services and public health campaigns to help people in the UK quit smoking and prevent cancer across all nations.
After nearly four months of campaigning, the petition had the support of almost 14,000 campaigners as well as 21 organisations from across the charity and health sectors. In addition to the petition, 53 cross-party MPs, Lords and Councillors signed a complimentary letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to support our call for a Smokefree Fund.
Prevent more cancers from occurring
Sadly, tobacco is still the number one cause of cancer and death in the UK, killing one person every 5 minutes in the UK. Next month is Stoptober, a campaign encouraging people to quit smoking, but people need the right tools and support to succeed. The majority of people who smoke want to quit, yet not everyone has access to stop smoking services in their local areas, largely due to funding cuts.
More needs to be done. We need bold action and funding to save lives across the UK.
In the current economy, this money does not need to come from the taxpayer—instead the tobacco industry should be made to foot the bill for the damage it causes.
