Asthma UK and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) have used the Government’s own forecasts[1] to show how comprehensive smokefree legislation can help cut smoking prevalence rates across England. Scotland and Northern Ireland will be covered by comprehensive smokefree legislation, the National Assembly for Wales has voted to introduce such legislation as soon as it is given the powers to do so, and a free vote on the issue will now take place in the House of Commons in relation to England. A comprehensive smokefree law would protect workers and members of the public from the health damage caused by other people’s smoke and would also encourage many smokers to quit for good.
The Regulatory Impact Assessment published with the Health Bill estimates that comprehensive legislation would reduce overall smoking prevalence rates by 1.7 percentage points. The table below gives estimates for the effect of such a reduction in each region*. The press releases below also give estimates of smoking prevalence rates for each Parliamentary constituency, prepared for ASH and Asthma UK by researchers at Portsmouth University.
Region |
Total
Population |
Adult population |
Smoker |
Adults with asthma (1 in 12) |
Adults + children with asthma (1 in 12) |
Smokers with asthma |
Potential quitters |
People with asthma affected by second-hand smoke |
East of England |
5,463,000 |
4,386,789 |
1,140,000
(26%) |
365,000 |
455,000 |
87,000 |
74,000 |
373,000 |
East Midlands |
4,252,000 |
3,427,112 |
925,000
(27%) |
285,000 |
354,000 |
68,000 |
58,000 |
290,000 |
London Region |
7,388,000 |
5,947,340 |
1,784,000
(30%) |
495,000 |
615,000 |
118,000 |
101,000 |
504,000 |
North East |
2,539,000 |
2,051,512 |
635,000
(31%) |
170,000 |
211,000 |
40,000 |
34,000 |
173,000 |
North west |
6,805,000 |
5,444,000 |
1,524,000
(28%) |
453,000 |
567,000 |
108,000 |
92,000 |
464,000 |
South West |
4,999,000 |
4,064,187 |
1,056,000
(26%) |
338,000 |
416,000 |
81,000 |
69,000 |
341,000 |
South East |
8,080,000 |
6,488,240 |
1,686,000
(26%) |
540,000 |
673,000 |
129,000 |
110,000 |
551,000 |
West Midlands |
5,320,000 |
4,240,040 |
1,102,000
(26%) |
353,000 |
443,000 |
84,000 |
72,000 |
363,000 |
Yorkshire & the Humber |
5,009,000 |
4,012,209 |
1,163,000
(29%) |
334,000 |
417,000 |
80,000 |
68,000 |
341,000 |
England
|
50,093,000 |
40,575,330 |
10,955,339
(27%) |
3,381,000 |
4,174,000 |
811,000 |
689,000 |
3,422,000 |
*The figures used are regional average percentage of adult population rounded down to nearest thousand
East of England
East Midlands
London Region
North East
North West
South East
South West
West Midlands
Yorkshire & Humberside
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