Fresh from live tweeting Tony Benn’s funeral, sacked Shadow Health Minister and plain packaging advocate Diane Abbott was left completely stumped when asked for any evidence that the plain pack plan would work. She was blathering that government smoking and drinking policies were only being pursued in order to quell support for UKIP. It was a bizarre moment:
The reason Abbott had nothing to say was because the evidence on plain packs is very shaky, as Christopher Snowdon has exposed here.
Leaving the science aside, how many people in Hackney drink beer and smoke? Once again Abbott’s nasty out-of-touch elitism is on full display. But what can you expect from a socialist who charges £2,000 an hour for her outside interests?