​Liverpool City Council has launched a campaign to make the city smoke-free in a generation.

The strategy, which was approved by the council’s cabinet in June, has now become the city’s guiding document for reducing the number of people who smoke.

The scheme outlines Liverpool’s approach toward smoking for the next six years. It aims to tackle the issue on several fronts, from changing attitudes towards smoking to lobbying for legislative change.

The plan is to drive down the proportion of smokers in Liverpool to just five per cent of the population by 2030, from the current level of just over 17 per cent.

The national UK average for people who smoke is 12.9 per cent.

Harry Doyle, cabinet member for health, wellbeing and culture, said, “We make no apologies for aiming towards the highest ambition with this strategy – to make smoking obsolete in Liverpool.

“There is no ambiguity around the evidence against smoking. The effect of tobacco on health is devastating, not only on smokers and their families, but on the NHS and social care services. Because of this, our strategy will tackle smoking from all sides – from supporting long-term smokers to kick the habit to ensuring that messaging to young people means that they will never start.”

The strategy

The council said it hopes Liverpool will become a smoke-free city that allows all communities to live longer, healthier, and wealthier lives where they can play and work without exposure to the harms of tobacco.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and illness in Liverpool, with two-thirds of smokers dying from a smoking-related disease. Smoking also costs Liverpool £623m each year, including lost productivity (£416m), health and social care costs (£201.8m) and costs associated with smoking-related fires (£4.4m).

Also, the strategy extends current messaging on smoking to include vaping, which is particularly aimed at young people. The message is clear: if you don’t vape, don’t start.

Ian Sinha, a consultant respiratory paediatrician at Alder Hey, said, “One of the major concerns about young people using vapes illegally is the uncertainty surrounding the long-term effects, as there is insufficient research around potential harm.

“Vaping could be damaging their still-developing lungs. Additionally, we worry about them becoming addicted to nicotine, the chemical in vapes, which could potentially lead to the use of traditional cigarettes. The appealing colours and flavours of vapes make them particularly attractive to young people, exacerbating this issue.”

The strategy also covers wider ambitions such as creating more smokefree areas and greater enforcement around illicit tobacco and nicotine products being sold to minors.

Matt Ashton, Liverpool’s director of public health, said, “We have already made significant progress in reducing the number of people who smoke. A fall of 25,000 smokers in Liverpool over the past decade is great, but it is not enough.

“The number of smokers in Liverpool is still too high and its effect on our communities, especially the most disadvantaged, cannot be overstated. To make the changes we want we need to start immediately – and that is what we intend to do.”

Author: