Smokers will pay more for hand-rolling tobacco from tonight
Smokers will have to pay more for rolling tobacco after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced tax hike.
In his autumn statement, Mr Hunt said the government would increase the duty on hand-rolling tobacco by 10% starting tonight.
He said: ‘I am going to increase duty on hand-rolling tobacco by an additional 10% above the tobacco duty escalator.’
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Tobacco duty is a tax charged to businesses making or importing cigarettes into the UK.
But the cost is then passed onto consumers.
In October, Rishi Sunak announced the legal smoking age a year every year, and new tougher rules on vaping are to be introduced.
The tougher tobacco sale laws would mean a 14-year-old today will ‘never legally be sold a cigarette’ as the smoking age limit is gradually increased from 18.
In the incremental New Zealand-style ban, the prime minister told Tory conference-goers doing so would help ease the pressure on the NHS.
It will be a ‘free’ vote in Parliament, meaning MPs can vote with their own preference rather than be whipped into a certain position by party leaders.
If passed, this would make Britain the first country in Europe to ban cigarette sales to young people.
He has also announced a new crackdown on vaping, vowing to scrutinise ‘flavours, packaging, displays and disposable vapes’.
Adding that data suggests one in five children now use e-cigarettes, Sunak said: ‘That is shocking and wrong. And we must act before it becomes endemic.’
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