A NEW law on the introduction of plain packaging for tobacco could come into force by next year after it was announced MPs will be asked to vote on the plan before May’s General Election.

The measure is expected to pass despite Conservative objections after MPs were granted a free vote on the issue.

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said introducing plain packaging “would mark a huge victory for public health, and a momentous step towards saving some of the 200,000 young people who currently take up this deadly habit each year”.

However, Menston and Burley-in-Wharfedale MP Philip Davies, has said he will oppose the legislation and two firms in Bradford, MPS ­— formerly known as Chesapeake ­— and Weidenhammer, part of the Sonoco group, who both produce cigarette packaging have strongly opposed the reform and warned it could lead to job cuts.

MP Mr Davies, a non-smoker, said education was the reason smoking levels in the UK had dropped every year since 1975, not things like the introduction of plain packaging.

He said: “It is completely ludicrous and idiotic. It is nonsensical because cigarettes are already behind shutters. Why you need plain packaging for products you cannot see, I don’t know. It’s a dream for counterfeiters. Life will be made so much easier for them.”

Ilkley-based packaging industry consultant Mike Ridgway, director of the Consumer Packaging Manufacturers Alliance and former managing director of Weidenhammer Packaging said: “The packaging industry stands in the middle of this situation and will undoubtedly be the loser if the proposals become law and if reductions in specification complexity, added value and loss of production value take place.”

Ilkley’s MP Kris Hopkins it was “the responsible and right thing to do”. The former smoker, said: “I am very pleased that this commitment has been made and the law will be changed.

“It is estimated 200,000 children in this country, aged 11-15, start smoking every year and it is essential we do all we can to reduce this figure.

“There is nothing glamorous or exciting about smoking and the packaging cigarettes are sold in should reflect this reality.

“I believe the government’s initiative will go some way to persuading smokers to stop.”

“A similar measure has had a positive impact in Australia, where standardised packaging is already compulsory under the law.

“I look forward to voting in favour of the legal change in the coming weeks.”