Bright cigarette packaging 'advertises smoking'

The government is expected to announce a review into whether plain packaging should be introduced for cigarettes in England.

Ministers had postponed the idea in the summer, saying it wanted to see how the unbranded packets were working in Australia.

Dr Peter Mackereth, who helps cancer patients give up smoking at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, said he believed brightly coloured cigarette packing is a form of ''silent advertising'' for smoking.