Leading North East figures including Newcastle's outgoing council leader Nick Forbes and County Durham director of public health Amanda Healy joined politicians and campaigners at a No Smoking Day event in Whitehall to reiterate the importance of meeting the national target for a "Smokefree 2030".
Coun Forbes also said there must be an end to the "underfunding of both public health and local councils" if authorities wanted to save the "hundreds dying each day" due to smoking.
The Government itself has spoken of how tobacco use is intrinsically linked with health inequalities - and research from charities like Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has highlighted how this hits the North East harder than most.
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In our area, more than 4 in 10 smokers live in poverty.
Coun Forbes, who played a key role in developing the pioneering local government declaration on tobacco control in Newcastle back in 2013, said: "Smoking has taken 8 million lives in the UK over the last 50 years, and is killing hundreds more every day, more than even Covid.
"Those deaths are disproportionately from places like the North East where smoking rates are highest. Achieving the Government’s smokefree 2030 ambition would be a legacy for future generations we could all be proud of.
“However, underfunding of both public health and local government has left councils with impossible choices. I call on my fellow councillors to make smoking a public health priority, and national Government to provide the necessary investment to ensure that we can make the lasting difference that is needed for our communities."
Also at the event, held by ASH, were Ms Healy, Dr Ruth Sharrock a Queen Elizabeth Hospital consultant who leads on tobacco for the NHS in our region and Ailsa Rutter from the Fresh regional smoking prevention organisation.
Ms Healy said it was time for the Government to take steps to curb the influence of tobacco firms.
She said: "Local government and the NHS are coming together today to show that we mean business in our efforts to end smoking.
"The tobacco industry continues to be a formidable opponent, addicting our children into a lifetime of addiction. Together we must win this battle for the lives of people across the North East."
Ailsa Rutter - who leads the Fresh and Balance organisations in the North East, added: "Smoking robs the lives of people in our region, making them sicker, poorer and more likely to die young. We have 8 years left to secure the Government’s ambition of a smokefree country by 2030 and no time can be lost in putting the measures in place that will get us there."
Dr Ruth Sharrock also highlighted how our region is especially hard-hit. "In the North East we have some of the highest rates of death and ill health caused by smoking," she said. "And we must lead the way in ridding this terrible product from our communities."
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health is led by Harrow MP Bob Blackman who also attended, as did public health minister Maggie Throup.
Mr Blackman said a new Tobacco Control Plan - as promised by the Government - was vital.
He said: "Now it’s time for the Government to deliver a Tobacco Control Plan containing the bold actions it knows are needed if this ambition, so vital to levelling up and increasing healthy life expectancy, is to be delivered. My parents lost their lives to this lethal addiction, so this is personal, I don’t want others suffering the way I did.”
Ms Throup, the minister with responsibility for smoking, said: "Giving up smoking is one of the most important steps to leading a longer and healthier life, and we’re determined to achieve our ambition to be smoke free by 2030."
She said the Government had launched an "independent review" which was looking into how to hit the 2030 target and "to level up the health of the nation and tackle inequalities".
