The charity’s researchers first proved the link between tobacco and cancer in the 1950s, and since then has been campaigning to tackle the harms of smoking.

Cancer Research UK estimates around 937,000 children alive in Scotland today will never be legally sold cigarettes in the UK. If the new law has the impact hoped for, by 2040, up to 832,000 fewer cigarettes will be smoked each day in Scotland.

The legislation to phase out the legal sale of tobacco will apply to children born on or after 1 January 2009. Not only will it help to stop people developing a deadly addiction, it could also alleviate pressure on the NHS, prevent thousands of cancers and help create Scotland’s first ever smoke-free generation.

Around 14 per cent of adults still smoke in Scotland and need help to quit. With the harms of tobacco concentrated in more deprived communities, smoking is the biggest driver of health inequalities. Cancer Research UK continues to call for the age of sale of tobacco policy to be fully implemented and enforced in Scotland alongside funding for smoking cessation services.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “This is a truly historic achievement that will help to save and improve lives. With the new law in place, we are moving towards a future where children will grow up shielded from the lifelong harms of tobacco. It will mean more people living a life free from the grip of deadly addiction, fewer people facing a cancer diagnosis and less pressure on an already over stretched Scottish health service.”