Health charities call for windfall tax on tobacco

Doctors and health charities have urged Rachel Reeves to hit tobacco companies with a financial double whammy, including a windfall tax in the budget, to help fund Labour's drive to eradicate smoking.

- Denis Campbell

They are suggesting a one-off £74m surcharge and a new £700m-a-year permanent levy on the industry's "obscene" profits.

Keir Starmer has made clear his readiness to take bold action to stub out smoking - the UK's biggest cause of preventable illness while the chancellor is searching for ways to bring in new income for the government in the package of measures she will reveal on 30 October.

Doctors, public health experts and cancer campaigners are urging Reeves to impose the charges on the four global tobacco companies that between them provide 95% of all the cigarettes sold in the UK and generate about £1bn in profits.

The first charge - modelled on windfall taxes previously levied on banks, energy suppliers and water companies would yield £74m to fund an expansion of services to help smokers quit. It could be imposed through a corporation tax surcharge included in the budget, they say.