Godfrey Bloom

Imagine how much good could be done in a hospital for half a million quid. Instead, this same amount of money is going up in smoke. Rather than spending the money on making people bettter, Primary Care Trusts have been wasting money on propaganda campaigns, as Simon Clark of Forest has discovered:

Freedom of information requests have revealed that Smokefree South West (SFSW) has budgeted over £450,000 for its Plain Packs Protect campaign. This includes £100,398 for billboard advertisements (above), £127,685 for digital advertising, almost £100,000 for “community events”, and £141,000 for other social marketing initiatives. Smokefree South West is funded by all 14 local Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) which are funded by central government via the NHS. At least eight of the 20 organisations supporting Plain Packs Protect receive (or have received) public money. They include ASH, ASH Scotland, ASH Wales, Fresh (Smokefree North East), Smokefree Lincs, Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre and Tobacco Free Futures (Smokefree North West).

This is, says Dick Puddlecote, 'Government Lobbying Government'

Plain packaging will not stop anyone smoking. It's not the wrapper that makes children like sweets and chocolate. It's not the label that makes us enjoy beer, wine, or whisky. This campaign has been invented by people who do not enjoy life, and do not understand people who do enjoy life.