Tobacco money to help fight cancer

More tobacco money could be used to help fight all cancers in England from next year.

The UK’s Labour Party is pledging that, if it wins the next election on May 7, 2015, by 2020 no-one in England will wait more than a week for cancer tests and results, according to a BBC News story on Saturday.

There is currently a recommended six-week limit for diagnostic tests in England, including tests to diagnose cancer.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the £750 million cost of improving cancer test waiting times would be covered by a levy on tobacco firms.

Labour’s proposal to levy an additional tax on the UK’s tobacco companies was initially announced towards the end of last month.

Miliband told delegates at Labour’s annual party conference in Manchester that it was fair to impose additional costs on an industry that made “soaring profits on the back of ill health”.

At that time, Imperial Tobacco reacted by saying that Labour’s plans to tax companies according to their market shares amounted to an attack on a legitimate business sector.

A spokesman for the company said the idea was totally unwarranted and unjust, and should be dismissed immediately.