In 2011, almost two-thirds of people who had never regularly smoked said that they started before the age of 18.
Our evidence showed that packaging cigarettes in a standardised size, shape, and colour, as well as increasing the prominence of health warnings, would reduce the appeal of cigarettes to both adults and children.
That’s why we launched our campaign for plain, standardised cigarette packing called The Answer is Plain. This was later renamed to Setting the Standard.
In 2012, around 90,000 people supported the campaign with 78,000 supporters signing a petition that we ran with Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). The campaign had the support of more than 250 health and wellbeing organisations, the Chief Medical Officer, and the World Health Organization.
In 2013, following setbacks to achieving standardised packaging, 8,000 campaigners wrote to the Prime Minister. We called for MPs to end the #packetracket and published a hard-hitting video to show the impact of tobacco marketing on young people.
At the same time, our policy experts worked with partners and Peers from House of Lords to include standardised packs in the Children & Families Bill. This allowed then Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, to help put standardised packs back on the political agenda.
Finally, in 2015, the UK Government announced their intention to lay regulations for standardised packs. Then, in March, MPs voted in favour of this policy. It was a huge victory for public health, giving millions of children one less reason to start smoking.
In May 2016, the UK Government gave retailers one year to sell old cigarette stock.
From May 2017, it became illegal in the UK to sell branded cigarette packs.
Launched in 2022, we’ve campaigned for action and funding to help tackle the number one cause of cancer in the UK – smoking.
Before plain, standard cigarette packs were introduced, we successfully campaigned to cover up tobacco displays in shops and remove tobacco vending machines.
We successfully campaigned for an end to smoking in workplaces and enclosed public spaces in the UK.
We’ve publicly launched our new campaign: “The Answer is Plain”. We want to help raise awareness of the Government consultation into the future of tobacco packaging.
We were thrilled at the news that MPs finally voted ‘yes’ to standardised packaging for tobacco. But it hasn’t been an easy ride.
Learn about the ways our campaigner community is driving political action to help beat cancer.
Join our community of over 50,000 online campaigners across the UK.
Take part in our community of over 200 volunteer Campaign Ambassadors helping to influence governments across the UK to take action on cancer and driving improvements for cancer in their local communities.
