More people smoking in parts of Devon and Cornwall

Figures show more people in some parts of the south west of England are smoking, despite levels across the UK falling to their lowest since records began in 2011.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the percentage of smokers in Torridge, North Devon, West Devon, Plymouth and Cornwall all rose from 2022 to 2023.

All other local authority areas of the South West saw the rate fall.

Public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said deprivation and higher smoking levels were linked.

In Torridge district, the ONS found an estimated 9.4% of adults were smokers in 2023 – up from 8.2% on the year before.

The 2021 census showed the district to be the most deprived in Devon, in areas including unemployment, long term health problems and overcrowding in the home.

John Waldron, policy and public affairs manager for Ash, said smoking figures for individual areas could fluctuate year on year, but the long-term trend in Torridge and nationally shows smoking rates have almost halved since 2011.

He said efforts to support people in Torridge to quit smoking "need to be stepped up".

In Great Torrington, on the eastern edge of the district, the rise in the number of people smoking came as a surprise to some local people.

Ricky Pearson, who works in the town's Pannier Market, said he had noticed the use of vapes increase but imagined the number of smokers had dropped.

He said with the cost of cigarettes "you do wonder why people would suddenly take smoking up as a habit".

Jayshree Mukherjee-Jones, a local trader in the market town, said she sees a lot of young people smoking as she travels on public transport in the area.

"Vaping has gone up, but also smoking among young girls has gone up, which I see quite a lot," she said.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers lobby group Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco, said it was well-known the majority of smokers come from poor backgrounds.

He said many people smoke for pleasure, but also for comfort.

Mr Clark added: "What local authorities and central government should be doing is improving the conditions in which people live."

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