Let's consign tobacco smoking to the past

It could provide a 20 per cent boost to our defence budget. It could have prevented the need for cuts to the winter fuel payments and disability benefits, while still leaving extra money in people's pockets.

So new research that the nation would be £10 billion a year better off if everyone stopped smoking is certainly food for thought. Not only would eradicating the habit relieve pressure on our creaking health service, it would also lead to a much-needed increase in productivity, the elusive key to economic prosperity.

The positive news is that smoking is increasingly unfashionable among the younger generation, but unfortunately this is accompanied by the worrying craze of vaping among today's teenagers. There is limited benefit in passing laws to discourage one harmful addiction, only for it to be replaced by another, albeit less harmful, one. The Government needs to look at how it can discourage the recreational use of e-cigarettes, and ensuring they are used as a tool to help people quit smoking.

There is, of course, a delicate balance to be struck. While smoking is clearly something that is bad for both the health and the wealth of the nation, any measures it takes to discourage it have to be tempered by a respect for people's civil liberties. Indeed, members of the older generation may remember a time when it was positively encouraged, before the link to cancer was established.

On the other hand, the Government has a clear responsibility to protect the next generation from harm, and any measures it can take to prevent youngsters from getting hooked on this pernicious drug are obviously to be welcomed.