Researchers say the current price of £10 for 20 Cigarettes is not high enough to encourage people to quit and want to see the price of cigarettes double to £1 per cigarette.

They claim that the habit is too affordable for millions of smokers who can too easily absorb small price rises.

The University of Bath boffins want a huge tax hike on cigarettes and roll-ups, they suggest more than doubling the price by 2020 if it is to have a significant effect.

Their call comes after they probed the historical prices of tobacco and its affordability. They found the cost of factory-made cigarettes is rising by 2.6% a year.

Researchers say a larger price rise will give them more incentive to quit and boost their health.

Dr Rob Branston, from UoB, said: “Smokers can currently offset tax rises by adjusting their smoking behaviour so they don’t get a strong enough push to quit the deadly habit.Buy and wear your patriotic badges from the Unity Shop by clicking the image now!

“Larger tax rises are needed to make smokers realise it is unaffordable. We would suggest that the UK government follow the lead of the Australian government. They have announced large yearly price rises up to 2020 which will result in the price in the shops exceeding the equivalent of £20 a packet.

If the UK follows suit, tobacco will become less affordable and this should push more smokers to give up the deadly habit. This will especially be the case if the money raised is used to fund services to support quitting.”

15.1% of British adults – 7.4million people – smoke and six in ten want to quit, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

The Government is said to also be considering a tax on e-cigs, which are used by upwards of 2.8million adults in the United Kingdom.

The study findings are published in the journal BMJ Tobacco Control.