Cigarettes WILL be sold in white packs: Cameron's U-turn to defuse row over tobacco lobby

Cigarettes will be sold in white packets from May 2015

Cigarettes will be sold in plain packaging by May 2015 following an astonishing double U-turn by David Cameron.
Ministers will today announce a review of the evidence from Australia, the first country to ban branded cigarettes.
They will also bring forward legislation so that a ban can be introduced before the next general election.
Just four months ago the Prime Minister angered health campaigners by dropping a promise to introduce a ban.
The campaigners believe plain packaging will make cigarettes less attractive to smokers, particularly the young.
And one study in Australia found that those  buying cigarettes in unbranded brown packets were 81 per cent more likely to consider quitting.
The move is also designed to defuse a toxic row about the influence of Mr Cameron’s controversial strategy chief Lynton Crosby.
The Prime Minister was dogged by questions about lobbying when he blocked plans by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt for a ban in July – because Mr Crosby’s firm works for tobacco giant Philip Morris.

Ministers will today announce a review of the evidence from Australia, the first country to ban branded cigarettes

His about-turn came shortly after it emerged Mr Crosby had told him to ‘get the barnacles off the boat’ – a reference to dumping controversial policies ahead of the election.

Health warning: How the cigarette packets look at the moment

Mr Cameron denied being lobbied directly by his elections adviser but refused to say whether the two men had discussed the issue. Labour leader Ed Miliband mockingly described him as ‘Prime Minister for Benson and Hedge Funds’.
A Government source said: ‘This will nail Labour’s ridiculous smears. Now the pressure will be on Labour to get behind this amendment to enable the introduction of standardised packaging.’
But health sources insisted that months of internal wrangling and continued pressure from campaigners, also played a part in the decision.
In July, ministers said they were  shelving the proposed ban because of insufficient evidence that it would work.
There were also fears that the Government will become embroiled in a long and costly legal dispute with the tobacco industry, which argues that a ban would be illegal. A ban is also opposed by many Tories, who view it as nanny state interference.
A health source last night said: ‘We always said we would look at the emerging evidence and this is the earliest opportunity to do it.’
Smoking causes over 100,000 deaths every year in the UK and the Policy Exchange think tank has estimated it costs society £14billion.
Despite a huge reduction in the numbers since the 1950s, it is  estimated that one in five Britons still smoke.