Yorkshire Cancer Research warns more must be done to tackle smoking

Further action is needed to stop people in Yorkshire needlessly dying from smoking, Yorkshire Cancer Research has warned.

The charity has welcomed the recent passing of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in the House of Commons but says the new legislation will not be enough to stop the tobacco industry continuing to market harmful products at people who smoke.

The Bill aims to create a ‘smokefree generation’ by gradually raising the age that people can buy cigarettes until no one will legally be able to purchase them.

However, Yorkshire Cancer Research would like to see further steps taken to help people who currently smoke quit successfully, including more investment in stop smoking services and a ban on smoking in hospital grounds, playgrounds and outside schools.

The charity would also like people to be offered help to stop smoking whenever they use NHS services.

Yorkshire Cancer Research has itself committed to funding £2.7 million of stop smoking services in the region and has helped 4,400 people successfully quit smoking.

Every year in Yorkshire, nearly 7,000 people die from smoking and nearly 4,600 people are diagnosed with a smoking-related cancer. Tobacco is responsible for 7 in 10 lung cancers and lung cancer is the biggest cause of cancer deaths in Yorkshire. 

Many areas of Yorkshire have smoking rates higher than the national average of 11.6%, with the highest being in Doncaster (17.8%), Hull (17.6%), and Barnsley (15.0%). Hull and Doncaster also have high levels of deprivation. Smoking is more common in deprived areas and is the main cause of a significant gap in life expectancy between the region’s richest and poorest people.

Although the Government has allocated an additional £70 million per year for local stop smoking services, funding remains 25% lower than it was a decade ago, declining from £141 million in 2014/15 to £105 million in 2024/25.

Yorkshire Cancer Research supports the introduction of a tax on the tobacco industry which could raise £700 million a year for additional stop smoking services.

The charity would also like people who smoke to be offered a same-day appointment with a stop smoking specialist when they attend lung health checks through the recently introduced NHS Lung Screening Programme.

Dr Griffiths continued: “Properly funded stop smoking services can help prevent avoidable deaths, tackle health inequalities and free up valuable resources for the treatment of other conditions. Further action is needed to stop people in Yorkshire needlessly dying from smoking and to reduce the devastating impact of smoking on families in our region.”