Britain's two biggest medical charities will receive an extra £15 million of government cash to fund a major anti-smoking campaign.

The money will go to Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.

Forum Response: Health Development Agency

A spokesman for the Health Development Agency said: "The Health Development Agency works to provide the evidence and guidance that will assist local and regional organisations improve people's health and reduce health inequalities, so we welcome the secretary of state's plans to switch the emphasis of healthcare towards prevention and his resolve to vigorously tackle health inequalities.

"We particularly welcome the emphasis on cancer prevention, reduction of heart disease and smoking cessation - the Health Development Agency has published the evidence on what works in tackling all of these issues. Indeed, smoking has been identified as the primary reason for the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor.

"The government's promise of 'an expansion in smoking cessation advice and support' in the tackling health inequalities white paper will need to be delivered on the ground if the challenging targets on smoking are to be met.

"The old saying 'prevention is better than cure' has never been more true. Unless we make changes and break this vicious circle, the future health service will still struggle to treat the ill-health that could have been partly prevented now."

Forum Response: Cancer Research UK

Sir Paul Nurse, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "One third of all cancers and nine out of 10 lung cancer cases in the UK are caused by tobacco. With this significant new support we will take our tobacco control campaign up a gear to reveal the truth behind this chilling statistics."

Forum Response: The Stroke Association

Eoin Redahan, spokeswoman for the Stroke Association, told ePolitix.com: "This is excellent news but unfortunately Mr Milburn has missed an extra trick.

"Most people associate smoking with death due to cancer and heart disease but they do not realise that smoking can cause major disabilities due to a stroke. It is estimated that some one in four strokes are caused by smoking and if this was emphasised, we believe more people would try to give up."