PEOPLE in Lancashire have backed a campaign to introduce plain, standardised cigarette packets.

Across the county, 10,407 people have signed the Plain Packs Protect campaign, demanding an end to glitzy cigarette packaging.

Blackburn mum Charli Jepson said: “I was really shocked to see how cigarette brands are deliberately designed to target children through glitzy packaging.

“If the packs were really unattractive I think it would help to put young people off smoking, which in my book can only be a good thing.”

Andrea Crossfield, director of Tobacco Free Futures, said: “In the North West, more than four out of five of those who try smoking do so as children before they are aged 14.

“The new packs are designed to have the lowest appeal, especially to non-smokers and children, and clearly show the death and disease smoking causes.”