18 years since smokefree law – campaigners call for a smokefree generation

30th June 2025

North East health leaders have hailed the impact of lifesaving legislation on the 18^th anniversary of the smokefree law (1 July 2025) – but have now urged the Government to save even more lives by creating a smokefree generation.

The law, which came into action on July 1, 2007, resulted in thousands fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in England, and in the following years reductions in admissions for childhood asthma as more people became aware of the risks of toxic secondhand tobacco smoke in homes and cars.  Support for the law also rose with 86% of people in the North East supporting it (ASH Smokefree survey, 2017).

However, two out of every three smokers currently will be killed by tobacco, which causes over 74,000 deaths in England every year. The Government is now preparing to move further to break the cycle of addiction and death from tobacco smoking with the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

Findings from a 2025 YouGov survey, including over 600 people in the North East, show 69% of North East adults back the ‘Smokefree Generation’ policy – the centerpiece of the new Bill which would ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2009. Even among smokers nationally, more than half (52%) support the move. Support is also strong in the North East for other measures:

1. 67% of people in the North East want to live in a country where no one smokes, with support spanning ages and incomes.
2. Only 11% believe the Government is doing too much to tackle smoking – despite world-leading proposals already on the table. 47% believe the Government is not doing enough.
3. 89% of people support requiring businesses to hold a license to sell tobacco – a product which kills around 74,000 people in the UK a year – which can be removed for breaches in the law such as underage sales.
4. 80% support a levy placed on the profits of Big Tobacco to fund quitting support and prevention.
5. 81% of people in the NE support further action on cigarette butts that contain plastic to protect the environment

Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Just like the smokefree law, there is strikingly high support for new measures to reduce the death and disease caused by tobacco. Too many families have seen a loved one suffer from smoking and don’t want this for their children and grandchildren.

“Eighteen years on however, the tobacco industry is still profiting from addiction and misery while communities suffer. There is huge support for a levy to make tobacco companies pay for prevention for the diseases they cause, ease the burden on public finances and to help more smokers to quit to avoid these.

“Over the last two decades we have seen legislation from the smokefree law to standardised plain packaging and smoking banned in cars with children – and during this time public support for action to reduce smoking has risen each year. Health is at the top of most people’s priorities. The fact is that action by Parliamentarians across all parties has saved lives and can save more lives.”

Dr Ruth Sharrock is a Respiratory Consultant at Gateshead Health NHS FT and Clinical Lead for Tobacco Dependency within the North East and North Cumbria NHS. She said: “In my job sadly I have to break bad news to patients every week about conditions caused by smoking and find ways to treat and manage their illness. Tobacco companies are still recruiting new smokers every day who will become ill and die in the future.

“But we have seen a reduction in serious respiratory illness among both children and adults since the smokefree law, which also made more people aware of the very serious harms caused by secondhand smoke. In the NE and North Cumbria, the NHS is now dedicated to helping patients who smoke to quit and stay off tobacco for their recovery. We must also continue efforts to prevent uptake and support smokers to quit.

“The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will also be pivotal in protecting limited NHS resource from the constant battle of dealing with tobacco harms.”

John Stephenson from Stockton, Teesside, suffered a serious heart attack at the age of 48 and had three stents fitted having been told by doctors he may not survive the operation following a lifetime of smoking.

John who now works for Middlesbrough Council’s public health team helping people quit smoking said: “Reducing the harm of secondhand smoke for people who worked in bars and restaurants and other public places was one of the first big wins for the smokefree law, as those people did not have a choice whether they inhaled tobacco smoke and the health hazards of that when they went to work.

“But it also gave a lot of people more motivation to quit as well and put a lot more younger people off ever starting. I would love now to see a fully smokefree future for my grandchildren.”

Sue Mountain from South Tyneside, a former smoker and cancer survivor, “When I was a teenager, you smoked to fit in. Down the pub I’d smoke at least one cigarette with every drink. In pubs, the air was a fog of smoke, and the walls were coated in tar. Smokefree law changed everything, and pubs and restaurants are cleaner, healthier, and more attractive places as a result. I’m pleased that my grandkids can go for a meal without being harmed by secondhand smoke. Sadly, for me I was already so heavily addicted, and I was diagnosed with throat cancer from smoking.

“Politicians were going to exclude pubs and clubs from the smokefree law, worried that voters wouldn’t like it, but it proved incredibly popular. The government should not wait to act now so more families don’t have to suffer in the future.”

Amanda Healy, Chair of the Association of Directors of Public Health North East, said: “The North East has seen one of the highest rates of smoking and smoking-related illness in the country but also one of the largest falls in smoking, and smokefree law was a vital first step in changing how smoking was viewed. It was a spark to help drive this change and question why something which killed so many people had such an addictive hold over our region.

“The North East is now working together across our local authorities and NHS to reduce the burden of smoking-related illnesses and improve the chances of all our residents, from babies to older people. But we also need action nationally to make smoking history for more families.”

Some of the positive outcomes of smokefree legislation include the below.

1. In the year following the introduction of smokefree laws there was a 2.4% reduction in hospital admissions for heart attacks in England. This resulted in 1,200 fewer admissions to hospitals and saved the NHS £8.4 million in the first year alone.
2. In the year following the implementation of smokefree laws, there was also a 12.3% reduction in hospital admissions for childhood asthma, equivalent of 6,803 fewer admissions over three years. Research also links smoking bans with a reduction in the number of preterm births.
3. The smokefree law, and the campaign that supported it, helped to change attitudes and behaviour on smoking. An extra 300,000 smokers were inspired to make a quit attempt as the law came into force.
4. In addition to support for the smokefree laws, people are less willing to expose themselves and their families to smoke in private dwellings. In 2009 78% of respondents to a YouGov survey, commissioned by ASH, did not allow smoking anywhere in their home, or only in areas which were not enclosed. By 2014 this had increased to 86% of respondents.

Following a consultation in 2014 the Government also introduced smokefree regulation to ban smoking in private vehicles with under 18s in 2015.