Luciana Berger MP, Labour’s Shadow Public Health Minister, responding to a letter in the British Medical Journal from 600 health professionals calling on David Cameron to bring forward regulations on standardised cigarette packaging promised by the end of April, said:
“There can be no excuse for further delay – the Government must bring forward the regulations it promised months ago.
“This is an extraordinary step for hundreds of concerned health professionals to take. Two months after the Government committed itself to standardised packaging, it seems that David Cameron has allowed progress to stall again – raising more questions about Lynton Crosby’s influence over Government policy whilst official reviews confirm there is an overwhelming body of evidence in favour of standardised packaging.
“Even when MPs demanded answers in the Commons on Tuesday, the Minister, Jane Ellison, wouldn’t set a timetable. It is becoming yet another example of David Cameron caving in to vested interests and standing up for the wrong people.”