Cancer Campaigns latest news

A new survey commissioned by Cancer Research UK last weekend shows that three quarters of British adults support the removal of shop displays of tobacco (73 per cent) and ending the sale of cigarette from vending machines (77 per cent). 

A lack of public support has been put forward as an argument for not rolling out the regulations needed to bring in laws to remove tobacco vending machines and point of sale displays. It is hoped that these new findings, based on a survey of over 1100 people, will shed new light on this claim and urge the Government to bring in these much needed regulations. 

For more information on our campaign to protect children from tobacco see our Out of Sight, Out of Mind campaign page. 

Over 1000 supporters contact their MPs as a part of our Out of Sight, Out of Mind Campaign to protect children from tobacco! Thank you to everyone who has taken part. We have also now launched a local press action so you can spread the word about these important issues in your local area. For more information on the campaign and to get involved, visit our Out of Sight, Out of Mind webpage.

We now have 260 MPs who have signed our pledge to beat cancer! This is an amazing result and thanks to the hard work of all of our supporters who ensured that their Parliamentary Candidates signed the pledge in the run up to the election. 

Such a high number means that cancer issues should be kept high on the government's priorities in the coming years. The pledges also give us the authority to hold MPs to account for their actions in relation to cancer prevention, detection and treatment. 

We have already been in touch with all of the committed candidates and MPs thanking them for their support and have met with key figures to discuss the issues. 

Click here to find out what we asked MPs to commit to and see if your MP committed.

Thanks to the work of so many of our fantastic supporters, we have had 1034 Parliamentary Candidates sign our pledge to Commit to Beat Cancer. This is an incredible result and should put us in a great position to ensure that cancer remains high on the political agenda.

We will be calculating how many of our new MPs have signed up in the next few days and will keep you posted.

Find out more about our Commit to Beat Cancer campaign.

Today the Sunbed Bill passed its Report Stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons!

The Bill will now go to the House of Lords for debate and we have yet to see if it will become law before the General Election is called. In any event, this is great news so thanks very much to all who have emailed their MPs on this crucial Bill to protect young people and help prevent skin cancer.

As soon as we have more news, we will post it here.

Our Ambassadors (supporters trained in campaigning) have now received their campaigning toolkits for the Commit to Beat Cancer campaign. The toolkits contain a step by step guide to taking actions to support our campaign locally. If you would like to apply to become an Ambassador or know more about the scheme, please email us at campaigning@cancer.org.uk.     

We have been informed that the Report Stage for the Sunbed Bill has been moved and will now take place on Friday 12th March instead of Friday 26th February. As ever, we will let you know what happens as this really is an important part of the process where MPs consider the Bill and any possible changes to its contents. 

The Sunbeds Bill has now passed its Committee Stage in the House of Commons. This means that MPs will now consider the Bill again on Friday 26th February. Watch this space for further updates!

On 29 January the Sunbed Bill passed its Second Reading in Parliament. This followed a hugely successful email campaign by our supporters urging their MPs to attend the debate. 

There are still several stages for this Bill to go through in Parliament before it has a chance of becoming law. Nonetheless, we are a step closer toward helping protect children from the damage caused by sunbeds. There may be more work to be done, but for now, well done to all those who have worked so hard on this issue.

Read more on our blog >

MSPs have voted to put tobacco out of sight and out of mind after receiving many thousands of emails from Cancer Research UK supporters.

The vote means that shops in Scotland, like those in the rest of the UK, will no longer be allowed to display tobacco products. This will reduce the appeal of tobacco products to young people – and save lives.

We were overjoyed to see that MSPs also agreed to completely get rid of tobacco vending machines. Tobacco vending machines are a significant source of tobacco for underage smokers and this move will really make a difference.

Members also backed proposals to create a register of tobacco retailers, and new penalties for those who sell tobacco to children.
Huge thanks to all Cancer Campaigners for their massive contribution to this victory.

Late last night in the House of Commons MPs voted to put tobacco out of sight and out of mind after receiving well over 8,000 emails from Cancer Research UK supporters. Many MPs also had a personal visit from one of our Ambassadors urging them to speak and vote in favour of the measures.

The vote means that shops in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will no longer be allowed to display tobacco products. This will reduce the appeal of tobacco products to young people – and save lives.

We were overjoyed to see that MPs also agreed to completely get rid of tobacco vending machines. Tobacco vending machines are a significant source of tobacco for underage smokers and this move will really make a difference.

Huge thanks to all Cancer Campaigners for their massive contribution to this victory.

An amendment on plain packaging for tobacco products was not considered but we will continue to make the case for this in the future as it would further reduce the tobacco companies’ ability to market their lethal product to children.

The campaign continues in Scotland where we expect a vote on these measures in the next few months.

Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur and business mogul, has added his voice to our campaign to protect children from tobacco marketing and easily available tobacco products.

The Virgin boss is a keen supporter of measures to protect children from taking up the ‘lethal addiction’ and as an ex smoker, he understands the difficulty of quitting.

In order to spread the message, Sir Richard sent a letter to newspaper editors saying: "getting rid of cigarette vending machines will help save lives. And plain packaging will help take the glitz and glamour out of tobacco."

On the 12 October MPs will be voting in the House of Commons on the Health Bill. We are delighted that your hard work means that the Bill contains a measure to get rid of attractive cigarette displays at the till (or ‘point of sale’) in shops. We are also working to get support for amendments that would get rid of cigarette vending machines and bring in reserve powers to introduce plain packaging for all tobacco products.

However, in order to get support for the Bill from MPs, we need to ensure that key Government Ministers give their full backing to the Bill and all the measures needed to protect children.

The Scottish Parliament will be discussing tobacco proposals in September and we need Members of the Scottish Parliament to know that children in Scotland deserve protection too. We can only change the law if politicians know that people they represent support the campaign. We will continue to update you on progress in Scotland. In the meantime, if you live in Scotland, please show your support by  emailing your MSP.

MPs will start to debate the Health Bill in the House of Commons on June 8 2009 and we need to make sure there is as much support as possible for the tobacco control measures we’re backing. We want the House of Commons to vote in favour of ending point of sale displays, and to show support for removing vending machines and bringing in plain packaging.

The House of Lords have voted overwhelmingly to protect children from tobacco marketing at the point of sale in shops. Putting displays of tobacco out of sight will help reduce the pull towards this potentially deadly addiction. This is fantastic news.

However the Lords voted against completely removing cigarette vending machines. This is disappointing as complete removal would be the only effective way to ensure children cannot get cigarettes this way.

The legislation will now start its journey through the House of Commons. We’ll be calling on our supporters to write to their MP over the next few months to keep the pressure on.

The Scottish Government has proposed removing tobacco displays from the Point of Sale and a complete ban on the sale of tobacco from vending machines in Scotland. This is very exciting news and will reduce the pull towards a potentially deadly addiction.

The legislation still needs to get through parliament so if you live in Scotland please email your MSP today!

On Tuesday December 9 the Government announced new legislation on tobacco - this is exciting news, but they could do more.

We’re pleased to see that they intend to remove tobacco displays from the point of sale and further investigate plain packaging for cigarettes.

But we were very disappointed to see that they haven’t committed to getting rid of tobacco vending machines. 17% of 11-15 year old smokers get their cigarettes this way - removing the machines altogether is the best way to stop this.

On November 19, Cancer Research UK presented Health Minister Dawn Primarolo MP with over 50,000 petition signatures calling on politicians to protect children and young people from tobacco advertising.

The petition, part of the Out of Sight, Out of Mind campaign, was presented by 18 year old anti-tobacco advocate Naomi Hodgson. The campaign urges the government to prohibit the display of tobacco at the point of sale, ban tobacco vending machines, and make plain packaging for tobacco products compulsory. David Taylor MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, also attended the event and took part in a photoshoot.

The Scottish Government has unveiled a new cancer strategy, Better Cancer Care, An Action Plan, detailing what they will do to improve services for cancer patients.

This is great news, and we welcome the real commitment from the Scottish Government to improving cancer services across the country. This document is an important step towards our shared goal of improving cancer services for all.

Our Cancer 2020 campaign launched in 2006 and urged Ministers in all four UK nations to plan for the future of cancer. We handed in over 265,000 petition signatures to the Scottish Parliament in February 2007.

For more detail on this news read our response.

The Department of Health have now closed their consultation on tobacco control. The CancerCampaigns team would like to say a huge thank you to all supporters who got involved and responded to the consultation on our behalf. In total over 9,000 emails were sent to the Department of Health calling for better protection of children from tobacco marketing.

The Charity also submitted our own response to the consultation, calling for a wide range of measures to reduce the affordability, accessibility and appeal of tobacco products.

Konnie Huq, TV presenter, has shown her support for extinguishing tobacco marketing to children by sending a letter to local newspapers across the country calling on others to take action.

August 2008: Out of Sight, Out of Mind campaign launches!

Earlier this year, the Department of Health announced a consultation on tobacco control, and we called on our campaigners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to respond.

We believe that children and young people have the right to be protected from the marketing and promotion of tobacco, a product that kills half of all long-term smokers.