Government plans to halve the number of English smokers

More anti-smoking measures are being considered to make buying and smoking cigarettes harder, in order to encourage people to stop smoking as part of a new government plan.

Ministers from the Department of Health have announced that they aim to halve the number of people smoking in Britain over the next 10 years. Measures such as removing cigarette branding from packets; banning cigarette vending machines; and even extending the smoking ban to include outside areas are reportedly under consideration.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said "We've come so far and now we'll go even further, to push forward and save more lives"

"In 10 years time, only one-in-ten people will smoke...One day, in the not too distant future, we'll look back and find it hard to remember why anyone ever smoked in the first place."

Government figures suggest that each year, smoking causes 80,000 deaths and costs the NHS £2.7bn.

Over the past decade, an unprecedented number of people have managed to stop smoking. Hypnotherapy and other methods that help boost commitment have become increasingly popular and more widely available during this time, contributing to a sharp decline since 2000. Now only 21% of the adult population is estimated to smoke and the government aims to reduce this to 10% by 2020.

In 1974, around 45% of the population were smokers; the difference between 1974 and 2010 is equivalent to a 45% decline.