Leading North East figures including Newcastle's outgoing council leader Nick Forbes and County Durham director of public health Amanda Healy joined politicians and campaigners at a No Smoking Day event in Whitehall to reiterate the importance of meeting the national target for a "Smokefree 2030".
Coun Forbes also said there must be an end to the "underfunding of both public health and local councils" if authorities wanted to save the "hundreds dying each day" due to smoking.
The Government itself has spoken of how tobacco use is intrinsically linked with health inequalities - and research from charities like Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has highlighted how this hits the North East harder than most.
