A CAMPAIGN to get more people to quit smoking is set to win the support of Worcester City Council as it gathers momentum.

Your Worcester News can reveal how the Conservative leadership is considering signing up the authority to a key declaration on tobacco control.

Under the plan, taxpayers' cash would be earmarked towards getting more people to stub it out in the city.

Smoking costs Worcestershire's NHS £19 million a year and the wider county economy £127 million.

By signing up to the declaration, the council would be committing itself to taking new measures to get people in Worcester to quit.

Until now, most of the efforts to get people to stop smoking have been coordinated by either the NHS or county council.

Since it was launched in May 2013, over 80 councils across the country have signed the declaration, which was first developed by Newcastle City Council.

If would need the consent of full council and under the demands, the council would have to develop a plan for reducing smoking, proactively support any Government action on it, attend regional networks with other bodies and be tasked with monitoring the progress each year.

Tory Councillor David Wilkinson, the cabinet member for safer and stronger communities, has revealed he is considering the step after a request to look at it.

"I've had a look at this declaration and it does appear that it would support our aims and objectives," he said.

"I'm very happy to consider this and take it forward to full council."

Councillor Lucy Hodgson, who is also part of the Conservative cabinet, said: "Tobacco remains one of the primary causes of preventable illness and premature death and it is this that needs to be reduced."

To find your local stop smoking service visit worcestershire.gov.uk/stopsmoking.

Previous surveys have shown as many as two thirds of smokers want to give up but struggle due to the highly addictive qualities of nicotine.

Although smoking rates in the West Midlands have fallen from 20.6 per cent in 2010 to 17.8 per cent last year, it is still the biggest cause of preventable illness and premature death in the country, accounting for almost 80,000 deaths in England every year.