nickshanagher

Three leader columns in the Guardian, the Times and the Financial Times demonstrate the battlefield upon which policy decisions are made as the UK government last week put plans for plain packaging of tobacco on ice. First the Guardian, which is aligned closely with the health lobby on tobacco issues. The Guardian believes that the government has been won over by big business (tobacco companies) on a public health issue. When Andrew Lansley was this government's health secretary in 2010 he said the evidence was clear that packaging helps to recruit smokers, the paper says. His government's suggestion that it should wait and see what happens in Australia is disingenuous, it says. Instead, people should think about Lynton Crosby, a lobbyist working closely with David Cameron (as leader of the Tory party rather than the country) and a supplier to BAT. The Guardian does not point out that the government's public consultation on the subject has not finished and the Depar...