Smokers will see cigarette prices hiked by nearly 15 per cent from tonight following Jeremy Hunt's budget statement. The UK chancellor has hiked tobacco duty in-line with inflation plus two per cent.
With the Retail Price Index currently setting inflation at 12.7 per cent, with the added two per cent on top consumers are looking at a 14.7 per cent hike in prices. The changes were announced this morning and came into force at 6pm today, meaning smokers will already be feeling the financial impact of the price hike.
As reported by Mirror Money, the ONS has an average pack of 20 cigarettes priced at £12.84, so the increase will see the price rise to £14.73. And price rises are even worse for those who hand-roll their cigarettes, as they should expect to see the 12.7 per cent hike with an extra six per cent added on top.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "For smokers... the pain will be immediate. The duty on cigarettes will rise by RPI plus two per cent, which is almost 15 per cent."
Campaigners have accused the Chancellor of being "heartless and cruel" after Jeremy Hunt pledged to uprate tobacco duty.
Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest, said: "Punishing smokers for their habit during a cost of living crisis is heartless and cruel. This is bad news for legitimate, law-abiding retailers, and bad news for the Treasury which could lose billions of pounds in revenue if more smokers buy their tobacco from illicit traders."
Price hikes aren't new for smokers, as costs typically go up each year. However, the last time cigarette prices were increased was in October 2021 it was by just 88p which was added to the most expensive packs.
The Government hopes that frequent price rises will lead to less than five per cent of the population will smoking by 2030, which will then class the UK as being "smoke free".
Smokers aren't the only ones who have been hit with the recent changes, as a 10 per cent increase has been slapped on spirits duty. Mark Kent, of the Scotch Whisky Association, previously said: "This is an historic blow to the Scotch whisky industry.
"The largest tax increase for decades means that 75 per cent of the average priced bottle of Scotch Whisky will be collected in tax, reducing already tight margins for an industry which employs tens of thousands of people and invests hundreds of millions annually across the UK."
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