Display ban 'won't stop smoking'
Updated on 16 November 2008
The Tories said there was "no evidence" that banning the display of tobacco products in shops would help people stop smoking.
Shadow health minister Mike Penning said ending displays and removing branding and logos could drive local shops and newsagents out of business.
And he claimed banning packs of 10, in an attempt to make it too expensive for many children to smoke, could lead to some adults smoking more.
Mr Penning was speaking about a Government consultation on further measures to try and prevent a habit which kills 87,000 people each year in England alone.
The Government is considering a ban on cigarette vending machines, removing cigarettes from display in shops and outlawing the sale of packets of 10.
Mr Penning told BBC1's Politics Show that proposals to ban displaying cigarettes wouldn't work.
He said: "There is no evidence that that will actually stop people smoking and there is a lot of evidence that it will actually destroy local corner shops and newsagents that are already suffering now.
"If you get rid of packs of ten the casual smoker will have to buy 20s and all the evidence shows they will smoke more. The more products you have on you the more chance you'll smoke them."
He also called for a change in the law to make buying cigarettes for the under 18s a criminal offence.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said he feared an increase in the buying of illegal foreign cigarettes. He told the programme: "It could take sales out of controlled settings such as shops and take it into pubs where literally people are buying their tobacco, their cigarettes across the pub table."
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