Throughout my Parliamentary career and as a Health Minister, I have continuously highlighted why we need to tackle smoking and become smokefree by 2030.
I am particularly concerned about analysis that was recently released by Cancer Research UK regarding smoking in the East Midlands. The statistics revealed that tobacco causes the death of one person in the East Midlands every hour. Remarkably, 13.4% of people across the East Midlands still smoke.
Furthermore, smoking remains the nation’s biggest cause of cancer and death and, in the East Midlands, it’s estimated smoking is responsible for around 4,000 cancer deaths each year. That’s more than a quarter (27%) of all cancer deaths in the region.
These figures are extremely concerning and if we want to reach our smokefree 2030 target, smoking rates need to drop 70% faster than they are currently projected to meet this goal.
Clearly the Government needs to do more if it is serious about tackling smoking and being smokefree by 2030.
If you or a relative is interested in quitting smoking, then I would encourage you to visit the NHS website here - https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/
