NEW and ambitious plans to slash smoking rates to just five per cent by 2025 have been backed by North-East health and local government leaders.

It is claimed that the move would save thousands of lives and an estimated £100 million a year.

Currently 22 per cent of the North-East population smoke so the rate would need to fall by 17 per cent in the next ten years to hit the target.

According to Fresh, the North-East tobacco control office, reducing smoking rates to five per cent by 2025 would have a profound impact on the region’s NHS and economy - freeing-up about £50 million for the NHS and significantly easing the strain on hospital admissions and GP surgeries, as well as slashing the cost of smoking on local businesses.

Based on the estimated 2025 population, if just five per cent of people smoked in the North-East it would reduce the annual cost to the region from £158m to £58m.

The cost to the NHS of treating smokers would fall from £93m a year to £43m a year.

Businesses would also see a saving with reduced sickness – from nearly £60m a year to around £14m a year.

Lisa Surtees, acting director of Fresh, said: “This is an ambitious goal, but it is the right one. There are very few families in our region who have not seen someone they love suffer as a result of smoking. We do not want children in the North-East growing up seeing smoking and the diseases caused by tobacco as a normal part of life.

“We have made good progress over the past decade, but smoking is still by far our biggest killer. Although we have a long way to go, uniting partners in this forward-thinking vision will help us to realise the end goal of making smoking history for our children.”

The campaign has now been backed by the Association of North East Councils (ANEC), the Association of Directors of Adults and Children’s Services, North-East Public Health directors and the North East Chamber of Commerce.

Cllr Paul Watson, chairman of ANEC, said: “Smoking affects the life chances of every child who grows up to smoke, especially in some of our poorest wards. Councils have agreed that tackling smoking locally and as a region is an ongoing priority.”

Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death in the North-East and causes around 5,500 deaths in the region each year. The North East has seen smoking reduce by nearly a third since 2005.