Pack of cigarettes to rise as Rachel Reeves reveals tobacco hike

THE price of a pack of cigarettes will rise after a hike was confirmed in the government’s Autumn Statement.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government will increase rates on all tobacco products by the standard Retail Price Index (RPI) – a measure of inflation – plus 2%.

Speaking in The Commons, Ms Reeves said: “I can confirm that the government will renew the Tobacco Duty escalator for the remainder of this Parliament at RPI+2% and increase duty by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco this year.”

She added: “Alongside an additional one-off increase in tobacco duty to maintain the incentive to give up smoking.”

The price hike will take effect from 6pm this evening (October 30).

The Chancellor also revealed that vapes will be banned across the UK within eight months.

Plus, she will introduce a flat-rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026.

The announcement comes as the Chancellor confirmed a raft of other changes during her maiden Budget speech.

The “trick and treat” Halloween package included:

• A freeze to fuel duty for a 15th consecutive year in a win for The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign
•  A penny off a pint by cutting draught beer duty, but raising booze taxes on other drinks
•  A gloomy forecast of sluggish growth in a blow to Labour’s flagship mission
•  A stamp duty rise for second-home buyers of two percentage points
•  A pay rise for millions as the minimum wage was increased by £1,400 a year
•  A hike to a packet of cigarettes as smoking duties were raised
•  A new tax on vapes ahead of the looming ban on disposable e-cigs
•  Higher taxes on air passenger duty for private jets that hits the wealthy
•  A benefits crackdown with Ms Reeves telling jobless Brits to “get back to work”
•  An increase to the state pension of £473 next year through the triple lock
•  An inheritance tax raid through freezing the rates people pay
•  An increase to the Carer’s Allowance to give cash to 60,000 more carers

The Autumn Statement provides an update on the government’s plans for the economy.

These are issued twice a year, once at the Budget in the spring and once at the Autumn Statement.

Rolling tobacco and readymade cigarettes will both go up in price from this evening.

Plus, the rate on hand-rolling tobacco has also increased by the same RPI rate but plus a whopping 12%.

The average price of of 20 king size filter cigarettes stood at £15.88 in September, according to the ONS.

Tobacco duty rates automatically rise each year.

It is a tax charged to companies making or importing cigarettes in the UK.

When the tax is raised, the cost is passed on to consumers who have to pay more for tobacco products in the shops.

The price of cigarettes usually increases with inflation each year unless the Chancellor intervenes to freeze the rates.

‘Punishing the low paid’

Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ lobby group Forest, said: “Increasing the tax on tobacco above inflation will drive even more smokers to the black market, fuelling illicit trade, and hurting legitimate retailers.

“It discriminates against consumers from poorer backgrounds for whom smoking may be one of the few pleasures available to them.

“Instead of punishing the low paid, the government should focus on improving the environmental conditions that drive many people to smoke in the first place.”

The previous increase was revealed earlier this year in March, which saw the price of a pack of cigs increase to average of £16.

It followed a one-off increase of £2 per 100 cigarettes or 50 grams of tobacco.

The RPI is a measure of inflation that’s published monthly and is used to measure the change in the cost of retail goods and services.

Taxing tobacco is a huge revenue-raiser for the government, with £10.7billion collected in 2022, which was 1.2% of the total tax taken.

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