THE price of a pack of cigarettes will rise by £1.08 on average from 6pm tonight, the government’s Autumn Statement has confirmed.
Today in the House of Commons Chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed a range of plans relating to tax rises, benefits and pension payments.
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In his Autumn Statement he announced:
The Chancellor said the price of rolling tobacco will increase “by an additional 10%” above the usual hike in a blow for smokers.
But hidden in the government’s Autumn Statement online document was the news a pack of cigarettes will be go up too.
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Rates on packs of cigs will increase by the standard Retail Price Index (RPI) – a measure of inflation – plus 2%.
The government is using the RPI of 5.4%, which is the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast for the inflation rate in quarter two of 2024.
It means a 20 pack will rise by 7.4% – or £1.08.
The average price for a 20-pack of cigarettes in October was £14.59 – this will rise to £15.67 from 6pm.
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The rate on hand-rolling tobacco will increase by the same RPI rate plus a whopping 12% – 17.4%.
Tobacco duty rates do automatically rise each year, but the 17.4% figure will be a massive blow to smokers who roll their own cigs.
Campaigners have slammed Mr Hunt’s move on rolling tobacco, saying the Chancellor has “raised two fingers to working class people across the country”.
Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said: “Raising duty on hand-rolled tobacco by such a punitive amount is going to push more smokers further into poverty or into the hands of illegal traders including criminal gangs.
“This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes.”
He added: “Instead of punishing adults who smoke with punitive taxation designed to force them to quit, the government should focus on the underlying reasons why a greater proportion of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds are smokers.
“Often it’s because of their environment but, instead of improving the conditions in which many people live, this Tory government is determined to force smokers to give up a habit that may relieve some of the stress caused by their environment.”
Tobacco duty is a tax charged to companies making or importing cigarettes in the UK.
When the tax is raised, the cost is passed on to consumers who have to pay more for tobacco products in the shops.
A hike wasn’t expected as it is usually changed in the Spring Budget.
The price of cigarettes usually increases with inflation each year unless the Chancellor intervenes to freeze the rates.
The previous increase was revealed earlier this year in April, which saw the price of a pack of cigs increase by over 12%.
This took the price of an average pack of 20 cigarettes to £14.39 from £12.84 – an increase of £1.55.
That’s because cigarette levies went by 10.1% in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI), plus an extra minimum of 2% on top which is applied to pre-rolled tobacco products.
The RPI is a measure of inflation that’s published monthly and is used to measure the change in the cost of retail goods and services.
Meanwhile, hand-rolling tobacco went up by 10.1% plus an added 6%.
Rolling tobacco does tend to go up at a faster rate than pre-made cigarettes.
Campaigners called the Chancellor “heartless and cruel” after that increase.
Before that, cigarette prices were increased in the 2021 Budget.
At the time, 88p was added to the most expensive pack – which saw its price go up from £12.73 to just over £13.60.
In 2020, the Chancellor announced an above-inflation tax increase on fags of 2%.
Rishi Sunak intervened and froze rates in his Spring 2022 Budget, when he was Chancellor in Boris Johnson’s cabinet.
Taxing tobacco is a huge revenue-raiser for the government, with £10.7billion collected in 2022, which was 1.2% of the total tax taken.
Mr Sunak, now Prime Minister, previously revealed he wants to make Britain “smoke-free” by 2040.
In his speech at the Conservative Party conference this year in Manchester, he announced that children currently under 14 will never be able to legally buy cigarettes in their lifetime.
The hope is that the ever-increasing price of cigs will deter more people from buying them.
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