Downing Street denied claims that Tory party adviser Lynton Crosby was behind a move to delay plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes.
The government’s announcement that it was shelving plans to introduce plain
packaging for tobacco products was met with accusations in the House of
Commons that the prime minister’s election guru Lynton Crosby was behind the
move.
It emerged on Friday that Mr Crosby’s company CTF has been advising one of the
world’s largest tobacco companies Philip Morris Ltd in Britain since
November.
In the Commons, Labour’s shadow public health minister Diane Abbott said the
Government had made a "humiliating policy U-turn" as she accused
ministers of trying to "slip out" an important announcement in a
written statement to Parliament on a Friday.
She said: "Once again we see a government which has completely lost its
way on public health and caved in to big business and we are seeing today
the health of the nation sacrificed to the interests of big tobacco.
"We have to ask, what happened? We suspect Lynton Crosby happened.”
Public health minister Anna Soubry responded by saying she had not spoken to
Mr Crosby since 2004 and insisted he had nothing to do with Government
policy.
Ms Soubry said: "I can quite assure you that Mr Crosby has not had any
conversation with any health minister on this issue and this really is a
complete red herring."
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said a decision on whether to go ahead with plain
packaging in England would be postponed until ministers had had a chance to
assess the impact of a similar scheme introduced last year in Australia.
A Downing Street spokesman insisted Mr Crosby had no involvement in the
decision on plain packaging, although he acknowledged that he did take part
in meetings in No 10.
"He is not employed by the Government,” the spokesman said. “He is
employed by the Conservative Party as an adviser to the Conservative Party."
The Government faced further fury from health campaigners after it emerged
that minimum pricing of alcohol will be killed off altogether.
It was reported that Home Secretary Theresa May will formally confirm next
week - before MPs finally break for the summer - that the Government has
dropped plans for minimum pricing of alcohol in England.
Conservative backbencher Sarah Wollaston, a GP who has campaigned for both
plain packaging and minimum pricing, said the result would be more lives
ruined for the sake of political expediency.
"RIP public health. A day of shame for this government; the only winners
big tobacco, big alcohol and big undertakers," she wrote on her Twitter
feed.