Tobacco advertising to be stubbed out

A ban on tobacco advertising will take place in "weeks rather than months" but is only one part of a "concerted plan to reduce smoking", the Government said yesterday.

In a speech to the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Tessa Jowell, the public health minister, reaffirmed Labour's manifesto pledge. "Smoking is the greatest single cause of preventable illness and death in the UK," she said in a speech delivered by the deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jeremy Metters.