NORTH-EAST health campaigners have reacted with delight after the Government announced it would give MPs a free vote on plain packaging for cigarettes.

If MPs back the proposal in May it could become law by 2016.

Lisa Surtees, acting director of the North-East tobacco control office Fresh said: “We are delighted the Government will give MPs the chance to make the lure of cigarette packs history for more children. Young people deserve protection from every type of tobacco marketing.

“There is such strong evidence that standardised packs would help make cigarette packs less attractive, especially to children and young people. We showed young people in the North-East examples of standardised packs and they thought they were much less tempting and less glamorous, contained more tar and were worse for health than branded packs.”

When it was set up in 2005, Fresh was the UK’s first dedicated regional tobacco control programme.

In recent years it has been part of a collective campaign for plain packaging of cigarettes along with Action on Smoking and Health, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation

About 9,000 North-East children take up smoking every year and Fresh said there is strong evidence that standardised packaging helps to reduce the appeal of cigarettes to children and young people and increase the impact of health warnings.

Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham, who has championed a ban on adults smoking in cars containing child passengers which is expected to become law soon, said: "This will mean two very good pieces of legislation will make it into law. The health benefits for the people of the North-East will be tremendous."

Statistics show that two-thirds of current smokers start when children, and half of all life-time smokers will die from a smoking related disease.

The average age smokers in the North-East start is about 15.

Surveys by Fresh show that plain packaging is supported by 69 per cent of North-East adults, and was voted through in principle by a large majority of MPs in the House of Commons and also in the House of Lords nearly a year ago.

In Australia, where standard packs were introduced in 2012, tobacco consumption and smoking rates are at their lowest level ever.

Ms Surtees added: “No parent wants their child to smoke and there has been tremendous support for this from North-East MPs. We are urging our MPs to do something amazing and once again vote in favour of this important measure.”

A spokesman for the Tobacco Manufacturers Assocation said the clamour for plain packaging was based on “dogma” rather than evidence.