This Pledge has been developed by the Smokefree Action Coalition to enable organisations to set out their commitment to ending the harm caused by smoking and other forms of tobacco.Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death, disease, and health inequality in the UK. It kills tens of thousands of people each year, damages the health of millions more, and places an avoidable burden on families, communities, the NHS, and the wider economy. There is no safe level of smoking, and its harms are entirely manufactured and preventable. All tobacco is harmful, including shisha and smokeless tobacco where the burden of ill health often falls on ethnic minority communities. By signing this pledge, we commit to playing our part in ending smoking and protecting everyone from the harms of tobacco.
Our shared aim:A UK where no one is harmed by tobacco, where children grow up free from tobacco addiction, and where support to quit is provided in
every community.
We acknowledge that:
- Smoking is a uniquely harmful and addictive, killing up to 2 in 3 people who smoke long-term
- Smoking remains a key driver of health inequalities, contributing significantly to avoidable ill health and disproportionately affecting disadvantaged populations where smoking rates are highest.
- The tobacco industry has a long history of misleading the public and policymakers about the risks of its products and seeking to undermine tobacco control efforts.
- Reducing smoking is one of the most effective ways to improve population health, ease pressure on public services and boost productivity.
- Ending the harms from tobacco will require coordinated action in the NHS and Government at local, regional, and national levels.
We commit to:Supporting action to reduce UK smoking prevalence to
less than 1% by 2040. This means ensuring that:
- No one starts: Future generations are protected from the harms of tobacco through a generational ban and strong prevention policies.
- Everyone stops and no one is left behind: Smokers across all communities try to quit more often and have access to the support they need to succeed.
- Protecting tobacco control work from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry, in line with Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
- Working collaboratively across Government, the NHS and third sector to accelerate progress towards a smokefree future.
- Taking a comprehensive approach to ending the health, environment and economic harms from tobacco in line with the evidence