FEDERAL Health Minister Tanya Plibersek has criticised the UK government for abandoning plans to follow Australia's lead and introduce plain packaging for cigarettes.
It was disappointing the UK was taking "a step back" when other countries such as Ireland and New Zealand were pushing ahead.
"I think this does show the continued effort of big tobacco to prevent plain packaging," she told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to sack his Australian election strategist, former Liberal Party federal director Lynton Crosby, over his links to tobacco giant Philip Morris.
"It's very clear Lynton Crosby has been a key adviser in this move to dump plain packaging in the UK," Ms Plibersek said.
British newspapers are reporting that Mr Crosby's lobbying firm works for Philip Morris.
Ms Plibersek said data was unavailable on whether the introduction of plain packaging in Australia had hit cigarette sales.
But she is confident it's working.
Since Australian laws came into effect in December last year, tobacco companies have launched a challenge with the World Trade Organisation.
British American Tobacco Australia senior corporate affairs manager Scott McIntyre said early figures show the legal tobacco market has remained stable since plain packs were introduced in Australia.
"There has been no initial impact on legal tobacco sales in the first six months due to plain packaging as smokers are still purchasing cigarettes just like they were before," he said in a statement.
He said it was early days and to assess the situation properly more time was needed to see if there were any trends.
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