PROPOSALS to ban shopkeepers from displaying cigarettes in a bid to discourage smoking have received a mixed reaction.

The Department of Health is launching a consultation later this spring to look at ways to stop people, in particular children, from smoking.

In a bid to cut the number of smokers and prevent children from taking up the habit, ministers have drawn up proposals including a bar on displaying tobacco products and selling them under the counter, and the removal of vending machines from pubs.

Measures that make it easier to sell nicotine replacement gums and patches are also on the table.

The proposals follow on from the introduction of the ban on smoking in public places last July.

According to the Department of Health, the strategy - coupled with the wider smokefree legislation - will save hundreds of lives.

Someone who starts smoking aged 15 is three times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their late 20s.

Cllr David Smith, Bournemouth Borough Council cabinet member for the community, said: "In my view anything that discourages people from smoking is a good thing and I would welcome it.

"The same people who are going to be complaining about a nanny state', will be looking to the nanny state' in 50 or 60 years time needing treatment for lung cancer. The nanny state' will step in and save their lives."

Mrs Patel of Poole News in the High Street said: "It's just annoying and a complete waste of time.

"It's not going to make any difference.

"If people want cigarettes they are just going to buy them or they will get them from abroad if we make it too difficult."

And Linda Bernard and Carol Metcalfe, workers at Square News in Bournemouth town centre, said the moves could backfire on the Government and turn cigarettes into "forbidden fruits" for young people.

"Everyone knows we are a tobacconist. What's the point in making us put them under the counter? People know we sell them."

Carol, who said that up to 95 per cent of their customers buy cigarettes, added: "I think it's another nail in the coffin for the small shops. We are struggling enough as it is because of the competition from the supermarkets. We are just a little corner shop."