The Government is facing the fury of health campaigners after plans for plain packaging for cigarettes were put on ice while it emerged minimum pricing of alcohol will be killed off altogether.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said a decision on whether to go ahead with plain packaging in England would be postponed until ministers had had a chance to assess the impact of a similar scheme introduced last year in Australia.
Meanwhile, it was reported Home Secretary Theresa May will formally confirm next week - before MPs finally break for the summer - that the Government has dropped plans for minimum pricing of alcohol in England.
Downing Street denied the Tories' elections strategist Lynton Crosby - who has been linked to lobbying by the tobacco industry - was responsible for the delay to plain packaging.
However, there was widespread suspicion that he was behind the decision - even among some Tory MPs.
Source: Belfast Telegraph, 12/07/2013
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