NEW data from Cancer Research says nearly 160,000 children aged 11 to 15 start smoking every year in the UK.

It says eight out of 10 people start smoking before they are 19 and more must be done to prevent youngsters starting.

The charity is supporting moves to use plain packaging on tobacco to make it less attractive to youngsters.

While that could work, we believe much stronger measures are needed.

One of the main problems is the shopkeepers too willing to sell cigarettes to the under-age.

When caught, we believe they should receive heavy fines, have their stores closed down or even face a custodial sentence.

It would send out the clear message straight away.

Then you have the adults who buy cigarettes for youngsters. That’s a trickier one to police. However, if they are caught, they too should face severe penalties.

Any adult who buys tobacco for anyone under age is despicable.

With almost a million under-15s, more than a quarter of all children, having tried smoking at least once, it’s fair to assume the majority have received the cigarettes from adults in one form or another.

Smoking bans in public places have been a huge success but all the good work done with that is undone if we can’t get the message across to kids about just how dangerous smoking is.