Research conducted to mark the 50th anniversary of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) has found that smoking killed nearly eight million people in the UK over the last 50 years. An estimated two million more people are expected to die in the next 20 years, unless there are radical changes to smoking rates, the charity warns.

Although the Government has committed to make England ‘smokefree’ by 2030, the charity, which was established by the Royal College of Physicians in 1971, says the country is on course to miss this target by seven years, and more than twice that for the most deprived smokers.

To mark its anniversary, ASH has set up a commemorative webpage where people can add tributes to loved ones lost to smoking.