Health leaders across the Bradford district are backing the Government’s new legislation proposals to limit cigarette sales to young people.

Under the proposed legislation, which was introduced in parliament this week, anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, would not legally be able to buy cigarettes in England during their lives.

This is because the smoking age would be raised by one year every year. In effect, this legislation would apply to anyone who is currently aged 14 or younger.

Smoking is one of the biggest causes of death and serious illness and leads to around 76,000 deaths in the UK every year. Many more people suffer from debilitating illnesses as a result of smoking which increases a person’s risk of developing more than 50 serious health conditions.

Across the Bradford district, there are more than 62,000 adults who smoke.

Compared to the rest of England, the district has a higher percentage of smokers and has more smoking-related hospital admissions and smoking-related deaths as a result.

Councillor Sue Duffy, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for children and families, said: “Smoking kills - so we welcome this initiative that looks to prevent the uptake of smoking and nicotine products amongst our young people.

“We know that we still need to continue our work in schools to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking.”