In some bad news for smokers, the price of cigarettes is set to rise from this evening. The Chancellor announced today in his Budget that he’s raising the tobacco tax, meaning you’ll pay roughly an extra 27p for a pack of 20 cigarettes from 6pm tonight, March 11th 2020. Rishi Sunak revealed that he’s raising tobacco duty by an extra 2% above the current inflation rate of 1.8%, after previous Chancellor Philip Hammond hiked it by 2% back in 2018’s Autumn Budget.
As the average pack of the most expensive cigs from one of the major UK supermarkets costs somewhere around £12.46 at the moment, prices will rise to roughly £12.73. A cheap pack of 20 will rise on average from £8.82 to £9.10, while hand-rolled tobacco tax will increase by 6% above the rate of inflation, reportedly adding 67p to the price of a 30g pack. These price increases come into place from 6pm this evening, so you might want to head to the shops and grab some cigs ASAP.