David Cameron 'U-Turn' Over Cigarette Packaging

David Cameron has been accused of a humiliating U-turn after ministers dramatically revived the prospect of plain packaging for cigarettes.

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison announced that the eminent paediatrician Sir Cyril Chantler has been asked to carry out a rapid review of the evidence, which will be completed by March.
At the same time, changes will be made to the Children and Families Bill currently going through Parliament so that a ban on branded cigarette packets can be imposed "without delay" if the review concludes it is the right course.
The move was warmly welcomed by health campaigners, but the tobacco companies said a ban would have no impact on legal smoking levels and would simply lead to an increase in smuggling and counterfeit products.
In the Commons, Ms Ellison said the Government had ordered the review in response to evidence emerging from Australia which last year became the first country to introduce plain packaging.
But for Labour, shadow health minister Luciana Berger said ministers had been forced to act in the face of a "humiliating" defeat in the House of Lords on an amendment to the Children and Families Bill tabled by a cross-party group of peers.
"Only a Government as shambolic as this one could now be U-turning on a U-turn. The minister says we need another review but the Government have already had a review and the evidence is clear for all to see," she said.
"Standardised packaging makes cigarettes less attractive to young people. We should be legislating now, not delaying."
Ms Ellison insisted that the Government had made clear last July that it was simply taking a "pause", following a public consultation in 2012, to consider the evidence from Australia.
At the time the announcement was widely seen as killing off any prospect of legislation before the election in 2015, with critics blaming the Tories' controversial election strategist, Lynton Crosby.
There was an outcry when it later emerged that his firm, Crosby Textor had been advising Philip Morris Ltd as it lobbied the Government against plain packaging.
Ms Ellison said: "We will introduce standardised tobacco packaging if, following the review and consideration of the wider issues raised, we are satisfied there are sufficient grounds to proceed.
"We have to do this in a measured step-by-step way to make sure that when and if a decision is made it is robust and will withdraw all the inevitable challenges that might come its way."
However, there was anger among some Conservative MPs who accused the Government of caving in to the "nanny state brigade".