Even UKIP voters back the plan that cigarettes be sold in plain packaging
Conservative caution on the issue looks like a mistake?
It’s being said that one of the reasons why the government has deferred the decision on cigarettes being sold in plain packaging is because of UKIP. CON ministers in particular didn’t want to provide ammunition for the most well-known of political smokers, Nigel Farage.
Yet the polling suggests that there’s widespread support for the proposal. The chart above,from the Sunday Times poll on May 10th, shows the party cross-tabs with even UKIP voters, by admittedly a small margin, backing the public health measure.
If the deferral is indeed down to Lynton Crosby then I wonder if he’s made a mistake. It looks as though the government is giving in to the tobacco industry.
Mike Smithson
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