Liverpool aims to stub out smoking in a generation

Smoke-free in a generation – that’s the ambition of the Liverpool Tobacco Control Strategy that is officially launched today [Monday 15 July].

The strategy, which was approved by the council’s Cabinet in June, now becomes the guiding document of the city’s ultimate aim of reducing the number of people who smoke in Liverpool to the point where the habit eventually becomes a thing of the past.

Setting out the city’s approach for the next six years, the strategy set out to tackle the issue on several fronts, from changing attitudes towards smoking to lobbying for legislative change, aiming to drive down the proportion of Liverpool smokers to just 5 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.

Today, partners will join the city’s Public Health team at an action-planning event as they embark on the next stage on the journey towards a smokefree Liverpool.

The strategy sets out Liverpool’s vision:

Liverpool will become a smoke-free city allowing all our communities to live longer, healthier and wealthier lives in a city where they can play and work without exposure to the harms of tobacco smoke.

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).

The strategy also 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.

Did you know:

• Two thirds of people trying just one cigarette, usually as children, go on to become daily smokers
• On average it takes 30 attempts to give up smoking
• Each year a smoker in Liverpool spends about £2,451 funding their habit
• In Liverpool just under a quarter of men smoke (23.8 per cent, 14.6 per cent nationally) compared to 10.4 per cent of women (11.2 per cent nationally).

The strategy also covers wider ambitions such as creating more smokefree places and robust enforcement around illicit tobacco and nicotine products and selling products to minors.

Professor 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.

“But the council cannot do this alone. Our partners have made a massive contribution to this strategy and now they are ready to help us turn these words into action.”