Local MP, Gordon Prentice, is backing plans by the Government to prohibit the display of cigarettes and other tobacco products at the point of sale.

He is signed up to a Commons Motion tabled by David Taylor, the MP for North West Leicestershire and a longstanding Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) campaigner.

Speaking from Westminster, Prentice said: "ASH reminds us that smoking is associated with more than 50 different diseases and disorders – many fatal. We have known for over half a century that smoking causes cancer yet we still allow tobacco to be promoted and displayed. People who continue to smoke lose an average of 16 years of life."

Note to Editors: The Commons motion reads:

That this House welcomes the Government's announcement of legislation to prohibit point of sale display of tobacco products in the 2008 Queen's Speech; notes that the Department of Health estimates that this will lead to up to 2,800 fewer young people taking up smoking each year, saving many thousands of lives in the longer-term; and calls upon the Government to commit itself to open, full and genuine consultation with all affected and interested parties on the most effective means of implementation of this legislation, in line with its obligations under the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which requires it to protect its public health policies from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry.