A leaked Government report suggests tobacco firms would be forced to pay the cost of helping people stop smoking instead of over-stretched local health services. The blueprint document stated: “The gains in tobacco control have been hard-won, and there’s still much to do. For the 15 percent of adults who are not yet smoke-free, smoking is the leading cause of ill-health and early death, and a major cause of inequalities.

“That’s why the Government wants to finish the job.”

The document that was leaked to the Daily Mail spoke of the Government’s ambition to go “smoke-free” by 2030.

The document also pointed out that smoking was more predominant in areas of deprivation.

It said: “Tackling these inequalities is the core challenge in the years ahead.

“If we are to achieve this vision of a smoke-free future, we need bold action to both discourage people from starting in the first place, and to support smokers to quit.”

The plan was labelled “extremely challenging” as although smoking rates are falling overall they remain “stubbornly high” for certain groups such as manual workers and those who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

The target to make the country smoke-free by 2030 will be announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock next week as he unveils a Green Paper looking at how prevention is better than cure.

Leaflets giving advice on how to quit would have to be inserted into every cigarette packet.

Ministers will also pledge a crackdown on cheap cigarettes sold on the black market.

Smoking rates in Britain have halved in the last 35 years to become one of the lowest in Europe, with fewer than one in six adults now taking up the habit.

But health chiefs will promise to “finish the job” by getting rid of all smoking.

At the moment, help to quit smoking is mostly delivered by the NHS or local authorities paid for through general taxation.

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