No respite for smokers

Smokers have more reason than most to be unhappy with Alistair Darling's pre-Budget report. The Chancellor reduces VAT but in order to keep the retail price of cigarettes etc at its pre-Budget level he increases the tax on tobacco. Note: the reduction in VAT is temporary, the increase in duty is permanent.

Once again, the people hardest hit are the low paid and the elderly who rely on state pensions. This may be "the most Left-wing Budget since Labour came to power" (see below), but when it comes to smokers (the majority of whom come from working class backgrounds) the government demonstrates yet again how little empathy it has with its original core vote.

PS. Iain Dale believes there could be a problem with the government's plans to raise the duty on fuel, alcohol and tobacco. See HERE. Interesting to note that the increase in fuel and alcohol duty is due to come into effect on 1 December, whereas the hike on tobacco came into effect last night at 6.00pm, giving consumers no time to stock up. The devil is in the detail - and this mean-spirited government is determined to make life as hard as possible for anyone who dares to light up.

Comments

[Lyn]

Are you really surprised Simon?

What scares me the most is the longer term future, when we will all be paying back the huge debt this government is racking up. It is like one of the weekend papers said, it could have been in the Sun, not sure, but the comment was basically that unless you intend to emmigrate in the next year or 2, you will suffer badly from the knock on effects of all this borrowing for many years to come, with little or no chance of escape!

I think it is scandalous the way local and national government squander our money on stupid ideas that are only ever half thought through, if that, just to fall flat on their faces. Of course, it is never their fault though!

If these politicians has real jobs in real companies, they wouldn't last 5 minutes with the kind of ideas they come up with for the country! Perhaps they should start taking advice from professionals who look further than the end of their noses to what the outcomes of actions would be, before wasting the money without a clue what the knock on effect and cost will be in the months and years to come!

[ann]

Lack of forward thinking is endemic in this labour govt.
Whats needed is a massive pairing down or sacking of all the non government agencies that are nothing more than jobs for the boys or their dick heads pals that didnt make it into govt last time around.
How many of these NGO's are there, does anyone know what their exact purpose is or what contribution they make to improve the lot of the ordinary punter. Or how much funding do they get from govt. For instance how much does ASH pay out on advertising for a year, are we to put up with anti smoking reminders for the rest of our lives.
Why dont they focus in on drug takers instead of smokers and bombard them with this incessant brainwashing. Is it because they know it wont have any effect and they cant get revenue from the drug gangs. Or worse still, is there an ulterior motive why they dont!
In my opinion its about time ASH got a new focus or better still was disbanded altogether and the money saved put into the front line of the hospital services.