LETTER: Raise tobacco tax

Sir: Judith Draycott's assertion that the "only" solution to cross-border cigarette smuggling is "an immediate and substantial cut in cigarette tax" is short-sighted (letter 3 August).

Yes, tax rates are different across Europe. But given the wide-ranging health and social consequences of cigarette smoking, perhaps the better long-term solution is to campaign for the raising of all tobacco taxes. The evidence is overwhelming that we should seek to maintain disincentives to cigarette smoking, not remove them because other countries do not yet have the political will to tax.

PHILIP ISHERWOOD

Leigh, Lancashire