A plan to put red health warnings on individual cigarettes is to be unveiled in Parliament on Monday.
It would also see tobacco manufacturers who fail to comply facing jail or huge fines.
Tory Lord George Young is to introduce a private members bill which could see the move become part of existing cigarette laws.
Warnings would range from “Smoking kills” to “You don’t need me any more.”
Lord Young, 79, said: “This is cost-free, popular and more effective than health warnings on packets. The Government could respond positively and I would be delighted if it did.”
He first proposed the measure as a health minister under Margaret Thatcher, but the tobacco industry successfully resisted on the grounds the ink would be carcinogenic.
Deborah Arnott of Action on Smoking and Health said: “Cigarettes kill smokers, not cigarette packs, so obviously they are where health warnings are most needed.
“All it needs is Government support for us to become the first country to put ‘smoking kills’ on the cigarette itself.”
But Simon Clark of smokers’ campaign group Forest branded the idea “laughable”.
He added: “Smokers are well aware of the health risks.”
Last week, the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health said Boris Johnson must step up anti-smoking rules and consult on banning the sale of tobacco to under-21s to achieve a smoke-free Britain by 2030.
The UK has nearly seven million smokers – mainly aged 25 to 34 and among manual workers.
It kills 77,600 people a year and causes 500,000 hospital admissions
