Young people are to be banned from buying cigarettes until they are 17 or 18 under new government plans announced yesterday. Although smoking rates have been coming down, there is continuing concern about the trends among children and young people. About 9% of 11- to 15-year-olds smoke and most of them say they get their cigarettes from small shops such as newsagents and general stores.

Announcing the proposed change in the rules, the public health minister Caroline Flint said that raising the bar from 16 to 17 or 18 would make it easier for shopkeepers to identify the youngest smokers whose health is most at risk.

"Smoking is dangerous at any age, but the younger people start, the more likely they are to become lifelong smokers and to die early. 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," she said.

The change would bring the legal age for buying cigarettes in line with the legal age for buying alcohol - although there will be some who point out the anomaly of being allowed to marry and have a family before being permitted to buy tobacco. It would also mean that UK policy parallels that of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

The government is also proposing tougher sanctions on shopkeepers who sell cigarettes to those who are under-age. In 2004-05, some 117 retailers were successfully prosecuted for selling cigarettes to under-16s. If the government's proposals go through - they will now go out to consultation - then repeat offenders may be banned from selling cigarettes.

"Access to cigarettes by under-16s is not as difficult as it should be and this is partly due to retailers selling tobacco to those under the legal age," said Ms Flint. "If a particular shop is known locally as the place for children and teenagers to easily buy tobacco, we want to stop that shop selling it."

Public health organisations are likely to support the raising of the age bar, although most believe it is not enough to stop children smoking. "Far more needs to be done to discourage children from smoking, and increasing the age limit to 18 would be a step in the right direction," said Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association. "However, the new limit is only going to be effective if it is properly enforced and part of a broad set of actions designed to discourage young people from starting to smoke."

Action on Smoking and Health said it was a logical step for the government to take. "But in the long run, all the evidence shows that the way to stop young people from smoking is to persuade adults to quit," said Amanda Sandford, research manager. "If smoking is no longer seen as a desirable adult thing to do, children will not start to smoke."