Making a mark: looking back at three years of Smokefree UK

Almost three years ago on 6 July, 2022, over 60 Cancer Research UK volunteer Campaigns Ambassadors from across the UK gathered in Westminster to launch our new Smokefree UK campaign. There was excitement in everyone’s eyes, coming together to tackle the biggest cause of cancer – smoking. Our calls for the campaign were clear: we wanted government action to prevent young people from starting smoking, by raising the age of sale of tobacco, and more funding to help people who currently smoke to quit.  

Since the launch of the Smokefree UK campaign, we have seen real progress towards our goals alongside campaigners and partner organisations. To celebrate the past three years, we’re looking back at three moments where our campaigning has made a mark.  

1. Telling our stories at 10 Downing Street 

A year after the launch of the Smokefree UK campaign in 2023, nearly 14,000 campaigners from across the UK signed our petition. It called on then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to provide more funding for stop smoking services and public health campaigns to help people quit smoking.  

Our petition hand-in was a big moment not only for our campaigners, but for the over 50 MPs, Peers, and councillors and over 20 other organisations who backed our call for change.

Less than one month later at Conservative Party Conference in October 2023 – the UK Government announced that they’d invest an additional £70m for local stop smoking services to support a total of around 360,000 people a year to quit smoking. This was a big win for the Smokefree UK campaign.  

Since this announcement, we continued to call for sufficient and sustainable funding to help everyone who smokes across the UK to quit. Most recently, we were pleased to see the current UK Government re-commit to this £70m for stop smoking services over the next couple of years. 

2. Taking our calls to the streets 

2023 brought a big win for our call for funding to help people quit smoking – it also brought exciting news for our call for action to help prevent people from starting smoking in the first place. As well as increasing funding for stop smoking services, the UK Government under Rishi Sunak also announced plans to help create the first ever smokefree generation in the UK, by progressively raising the age of sale of tobacco.  

This landmark legislation would prevent people born on or after 1 January 2009 from ever legally being sold tobacco, as part of a bill called the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. 

We’d been calling for bold government action such as this for decades. Helping to prevent young people from starting smoking by raising the age of sale of tobacco was also one of our key calls of our Smokefree UK campaign. Nothing would have a bigger impact on reducing the number of preventable deaths in the UK than ending smoking, so we didn’t delay in taking to the streets to champion this legislation. 

”To stand at the heart of Westminster, with MPs walking by, gave me hope that together we can change the health of the nation,” says Helene, one of our Campaign Ambassadors. “I felt a great sense of responsibility to deliver for future generations – it was incredibly important to me to know that my action might help save lives in the future.“ 

A lot changed in the world of politics since that moment. Our campaigners watched as the UK general election halted the progress of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill through the UK Parliament – leaving the future of legislation to create a smokefree generation in uncertainty.  

But this bump in the road didn’t stop us. In the lead up to the UK general election, we called on all political parties across the UK, if elected, to reintroduce this legislation to the UK Parliament.  

Since then, we’ve had a general election, and the new UK Government has introduced a new and even bolder Tobacco and Vapes Bill to Parliament.

3. Flying our campaign posters across the UK 

The introduction of the new Tobacco and Vapes Bill has made our campaigners more motivated than ever to see legislation to create a smokefree generation passed and implemented across the UK. We gathered in front of Westminster to show our support with a bold banner urging MPs to vote in favour of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill as it moves through the Westminster parliamentary process. 

But we aren’t done yet. Alongside our campaigners in Wales, we continue to call for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Legislative Consent Motion to be brought to the Senedd and urge all MSs to support it.

Looking forward

When we launched the Smokefree UK campaign in 2022, we set out a vision for a future where cancers caused by smoking are a thing of the past. While we aren’t quite there yet, we’ve taken bold steps to campaign for a smokefree UK and have made incredible progress alongside our campaigning community.  

We want to see a smokefree generation become a reality in the UK. As the Tobacco and Vapes Bill currently moves through the House of Lords, we’re urging all Peers to help champion it.  

The biggest cause of cancer should have no place in our future. So together, let’s make that a reality.