The news today that the Coalition Government is launching an independent review of the evidence for standardised packaging is welcome. It marks an important shift from the position Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt took in July that he would wait until the “emerging impact of the decision in Australia can be measured”. Australia of course led the world when the previous Government, with all Party support, introduced standardised packaging in December last year.

More welcome still is that news that the Government will take the legal powers to introduce standardised packaging in the Children and Families Bill

A four month review if it leads to a rapid decision and implementation is one thing. But a review takes the heat off and could just kick the can down the road a little longer.

Big tobacco have been busy as the Observer reported in July, the tobacco multinational Philip Morris developed a secret corporate lobbying strategy to try to persuade the Government to “wait see what happens in Australia [for two or three years]”. In a recent letter to MPs and peers, PMI’s Director of Corporate Affairs for the UK and Ireland described the Government’s refusal to legislate as “sensible”. That alone should have been enough to start loud alarm bells ringing in the Department of Health.

PMI and the other tobacco multinationals know that most smokers start when they are children. Cancer Research UK have estimated that around 200,000 children under 16 began to smoke in 2011 alone. Because nicotine is such an addictive drug, many of those who start to smoke as children will find it impossible to quit as adults. Big tobacco needs to recruit more smokers to replace those who quit or, more chillingly, die from their addiction. We need a strong presumption in favour of action to protect the health of children and young people from the harm that smoking does.

That requires regulation to prevent marketing of tobacco to children. We already, rightly have a general ban on tobacco advertising, creating in the UK what the tobacco industry mournfully refers to as a “dark market”. The pack is the last means by which the industry can create a brand identity to appeal to its target markets, conveniently displayed to current and potential consumers every time a smoker takes a pack out of a pocket. We can readily discover what image the different brands are trying to convey by looking at countries which have yet to institute advertising bans, and at unregulated websites. So we find, for example, multiple websites advertising the British American Tobacco brand “Vogue Cigarettes”, which are specifically designed to appeal to young women. Or, as the standard internet marketing blurb has it: “Vogue Cigarettes’ all-white box design with a tiny colored branch and different colored leaves reflects the romantic essence that is Vogue Cigarettes.” An “essence” that leads to lung cancer, emphysema, peripheral vascular disease or any other of the long list of horrible smoking related diseases. How romantic.

Calling the policy of ending such marketing devices “plain packaging” is misleading. Standardised packaging is what we really should be talking about. Packs will have uniform colours, and will contain strong health messages both in pictures and in writing, as well as information on stop smoking services. As shown by the systematic review of scientific evidence summarised in the Department of Health’s consultation document on standardised packaging, the way in which packaging is designed has a clear psychological impact, and standardised packaging should reduce the likelihood of people taking up smoking and increase the likelihood of their quitting. A further 17 studies have concluded much the same.

The evidence is already there; we do not need to wait for more from Australia. What has been lacking so far is political will in Government. So Parliament has led the way, as it did when the last Government tried to duck its responsibility to introduce a comprehensive ban on smoking in enclosed public places. In the Lords my Lib Dem colleague, Claire Tyler, led the charge working cross party to build support, and in the Commons the All Party Group on Smoking and Health has galvanised cross party support.

Standardised packaging is another step on the journey of changing public attitudes and saving lives. Today’s announcement is a welcome step in that direction, but the pace must now quicken.

* Paul Burstow is Liberal Democrat candidate for Sutton and Cheam and was the MP until the dissolution of Parliament on 30th March.