UK drops plain packaging plan for cigarettes The British government is on Friday set to abandon plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes for the foreseeable future - a move that will be welcomed by the tobacco industry, which had lobbied to protect branded packets. The department for health is due to make a statement to the House of Commons postponing a decision on plain packaging, saying it needs more time to examine how a similar policy has worked in Australia. But the delay has been criticised by health campaigners, who claim plain packaging would put young people off smoking, as brands on packets are one of the last remaining ways to advertise cigarettes. Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said the government must take a lead to ensure a new generation did not fall ill from smoking. "Every year of delay on a measure like this means more than 200,000 children take up smoking," he told the BBC's Today programme on Friday morning. But Mark Field, a Conservative backbencher, welcomed the health secretary's decision to delay the measure. He said it was "sensible" and "pragmatic" and that the government needed to ensure it would not be liable for compensating tobacco companies whose intellectual property rights were removed. Mr Field denied the move was "political" after claims the Conservatives were ditching their clean living evangelism for fear of being criticised by the rising force of the UK independence party, a rightwing party that protests against "nanny state" policies. Shares in British American Tobacco rose 0.6 per cent in early morning trading, while Imperial Tobacco edged up 0.4 per cent, slightly more than the wider market. The companies had welcomed initial signs of a change in policy ahead of the Queen's Speech in May, saying there was no credible evidence that plain packets reduced smoking and warning it could boost the counterfeit industry. Plans for minimum alcohol pricing, also left out of the Queen's Speech, are expected to be formally abandoned next week. David Cameron, prime minister, had said last year that the government would set a minimum unit price to stop the sale of deeply discounted drinks in an effort to prevent alcohol-related deaths and crime. Additional reporting by Duncan Robinson