Tobacco duty 'a missed opportunity'

Press Association
Updated
File photo dated 28/11/13 of a cigarette display cabinet. George Osborne will make a pitch to ordinary working people today when he delivers his penultimate Budget before the general election. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday March 19, 2014. See PA BUDGET stories. Photo credit should read: John Stillwell/PA Wire
File photo dated 28/11/13 of a cigarette display cabinet. George Osborne will make a pitch to ordinary working people today when he delivers his penultimate Budget before the general election. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday March 19, 2014. See PA BUDGET stories. Photo credit should read: John Stillwell/PA Wire

%VIRTUAL-SkimlinksPromo%The Chancellor has missed an opportunity to end the "ridiculous" situation of a pack of cigarettes costing less in real terms than it did in the 1960s, health campaigners have said.

Tobacco duty will rise by 2% above inflation, and the escalator will be extended for the rest of the next Parliament.

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