LINKS between receiving hospitality from a major tobacco company and opposing plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes have been denied by Tewkesbury's MP. Laurence Robertson has pointed out he had always been 'pro-choice' when it came to smoking. He argued targeting plain packaging was a "cop out", and failed to tackle the more complex causes of people taking up the habit such as peer pressure and parents smoking.
Mr Robertson was one of six MPs calling for the policy to be dropped, who had accepted tickets and hospitality at the Chelsea Flower Show worth more than £1,100 from Japan Tobacco International (JIT), which owns the Silk Cut, Mayfair and Benson & Hedges brands. This was declared in the register of members' interests by Mr Robertson. The six were among a total of 51 MPs to sign an open letter warning that a cigarette branding ban "threatens more than 5,500 jobs directly employed by the UK tobacco sector".
Mr Robertson denied there was a conflict of interest. He said: "I have always been pro-choice. "Too much has been made of this plain packaging. It's a cop out. "I don't believe children start to smoke because it says Embassy or Rothmans on a packet. It's to do with peer pressure and parents smoking. "I have always taken the view if people want to smoke that's up to them." Mr Robertson said he had visited a JIT-owned factory in Northern Ireland in his capacity as select committee chairman. "It's a legitimate business," he said.
"The product is a legal product." The open letter stated: "There is no reliable evidence that plain packaging will have any public health benefit," adding that a standardised packet design could make tobacco smuggling easier." A public consultation is currently under way on whether branded cigarette packaging should disappear from the shelves. Health campaigners have welcomed the proposal, but opponents claimed it would lead to increased smuggling and job losses.
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