"We do think it will help the number of people, who want to give up to smoking -- the vast majority of smokers want to give up -- and this will give them an extra push," said Alan Johnson, Health Secretary.

The new warnings will begin appearing on cigarette packs from next year, with all tobacco products compliant by 2010.

Other countries such as Canada and Brazil have adopted a similar strategy, with some evidence to indicate that such warnings make smokers think twice.

A recent study showed 15% of Canadian smokers had been deterred from having a cigarette -- more than double the rate of countries such as the US and Australia, which had text-only warnings at the time of the study.

Protests against the move have come from Forest, the smokers rights lobbyists funded by tobacco companies.

"You could construct exactly the same argument for placing graphic images on bottles of alcohol, but because most people like to drink alcohol, the government doesn't want to offend the majority," said Neil Rafferty, spokesperson for the group.

"The government are bullying smokers simply because they can get away with it."

Professor Robert West of Cancer Research UK believes that the new warnings could result in up to 10,000 people giving up -- possibly saving over 2,000 lives a year.

But Professor West believes that it would also help if the poorer sections of society were deterred from smoking by ramping up the price of tobacco and clamping down on smuggling.

"The government is facing a huge smuggling problem," he said.

"Smuggled tobacco is half the price of a regular pack and 40% of tobacco is smuggled, mostly rolled tobacco.

"We need to bear down on that as much as we can."