AN AGREED deadline to release a Government-prepared document to reduce smoking has passed with a North-East MP now calling for its publication to be made a priority.

A new Tobacco Control Plan was promised to be delivered several months ago after the previous plan expired in December 2015.

However, Stockton MP Alex Cunningham has been backed by Fresh, the region’s drive to tackle smoking, in a bid to pressure the Government to produce an updated plan without delay.

A debate on Thursday saw Members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health (APPG), focussed on health inequalities across the country as smoking-related illnesses cost the North-East’s NHS services £100 million annually.

Mr Cunningham said: “While smoking rates among the adult population have fallen in recent years, health inequalities have remained stubbornly high with poorer people at least twice as likely to smoke as those who are well-off.

“These higher rates of smoking place a significant financial burden on poorer members of society.

“Helping disadvantaged people to quit is not only good for their health but can also help lift families out of poverty.

“The new Tobacco Control Plan therefore needs to prioritise cutting health inequalities, rather than budgets, and in doing so must protect public health funding for tobacco control.”

Under the previous Tobacco Control Plan, smoking rates fell among both adults and children below set target levels.

The number of adults smoking in the North-East has dropped its lowest level ever recorded with less than 19 per cent of the population sticking with the habit.

Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh, said: “Most smokers would like to quit but some find it hard to stay quit, and it is the poorest people in our society who start smoking youngest, suffer from years of ill health, and die younger.

“We need to ensure everyone in the NHS plays a role to provide support.”