'£10 licence to smoke' proposed

[MGV6]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7247470.stm

but would £10 really help stop smokers from smoking?

[Nutter_John]

right this is bollox , the government do not want smokers to give it , it is just yet another way to screw people for extra money in so called health / green taxes

Right please explain how someone paying extra green taxes or health taxes going to save the frickin plannet

[I-S]

It's not meant to, from a cost point of view. It has two main benefits:

1) it's a pain in the arse, so people will be more inclined to quit
2) it will make underage tobacco sales less common

[ANTHONY]

and if everybody gave up where would the government get their money from. proberly fuel

[HMG1K]

Just checked my calender.... Nope, it's not April 1st! What a joke! Next they'll be asking smokers to plant a tree for every pack of 20 they buy !

Oh, I talk as a non-smoker !!

[miller]

jeeesus, what next, think i will have to grow my own tobacco........

This is starting to get out of hand and absolutely ridiculous. Next thing we know the governement will be telling us what time to go to bed.

Mike

[Kieran]

Having been at her bedside watching my mother breathe her last from Lung & thryoid cancer after 20ish years of smoking....I say bring it on.

I doubt the cost will make that much difference to the Govt coffers, a £10 one-off charge isn't much. I think the inconvenience idea is a brilliant one... It'll probably be a help to those who are sat on the fence - Those who are like me and excercise - I.e - they know the benefits, they want too but they lack the will power to kick it.

Enforcement would be a problem however.

[Spirit]

2) it will make underage tobacco sales less common

Just ask for ID surely ?

[The Vee]

It may help people give up - utter crap. It actually makes people think F off you ****s and makes people more determined to carry on. It is just another back door tax and what they don't tell you is that these lovely little forms just document the fact that you do smoke so insurance companies can rob you or not even insure you at all and of course the NHS can decline treatment should you need it.

[Turbo_Steve]

The costs of admin, let alone the cost of enforcement, plus possible forgery, makes it a nonsense.

Make it illegal to sell cigarettes in packs bigger than 5 cigs. Make each cig half the length with a bigger filter. Ensure each packet is available on prescription only, with a mandatory fee of £10 a packet. Ensure 'approved' cigarettes are flourescent orange (after all, they're killing you anyway). And make it illegal to smoke. Anywhere. Yes, people will still do it at home etc, but then they do with weed, and we're not all dying from smoking that.

Oh look everyone just quit. Personally, I don't care either way whether people want to kill themselves smoking. But I get annoyed with the government namby-pambying around. If you're determined to make a change, do it and stop poncing about, and go down in history as the government that made a god-damned difference for a change.

[Crickle]

I think since they brought out the law of no smoking in pubs/enclosed public spaces things have been better, but now u just get smoked on as you enter a bar. Its nasty. I agree this new tax is just another tax money making scheme so the government can get fatter. I don't see our wages increased to cope with all these new taxes! Shocking! We'll all be living off 'rations' at this rate!

[unclepete]

I don't smoke, in fact I hate it but this is just a signifier of what is to come with this awesome government. We're already taxed incredibly high and have poor roads, no infrastructure, cycle paths etc. etc. Can't wait to get enough money saved up under Gordon's nose and jog on to another country.

[davcom1]

Yeah - I'm with unclepete. Get enough money together (if that's possible with the state ripping it hot out of our hands to 'save the planet and everyone in it from themselves') and leg it out of this country.

I'm more likely to give up smoking if they put adverts on TV for the free MRSA they give away at most NHS hospitals should I ever have to go in for a smoking related illness!

To say this bugs the crap out of me is an understatement!! Give up smoking now and live long enough to be beaten to death by a gang of thugs! YAY! And that's providing you've paid your council tax or at 78 you could be banged up for a month.

I'm so proud of my country... NOT! Ooops, politics does this to me and to think I used to be a little socialist... I reckon all politicians and other people pulling the strings are aliens or something and David Ike and Mohamed al-Fayed agree!! :P

[Crickle]

Well, I have decided to take up sniffing incense sticks whilst they are still cheap...before the tax man gets his mitts into them too!! Smells better than cigs too! :D

[bradc]

lol Chrissy, you're a special girl sometimes aren't you :)

[Kieran]

lol Chrissy, you're a special girl sometimes aren't you :)

What do you mean, Sometimes?!:speechles

[Crickle]

lol Chrissy, you're a special girl sometimes aren't you :)

I am indeed.. why do you think they sent me to special school lol :scholar:
Extra special hehe :2thumbsup :inquisiti /bounce