Parliamentary reporter Kirsty Buchanan is among the latest to sign up to the Hull Daily Mail’s Trash the Ash campaign.

Kirsty (30) says she’s quit the weed after 19 years as a smoker.

The Northcliffe Newspapers parliamentary correspondent had planned to pack up when she reached her 30th birthday but says the Mail’s campaign – which aims to persuade 2000 readers to quit during the year 2000 – gave her added encouragement.

She began smoking when she was 11 and was on 20 a day by the time she was 15. She says that health was the main factor in her decision but she was also worried about the smell of stale tobacco on her clothes – and the £150-a-month bill for cigarettes.

“I realised that no intelligent person in the 21st centuiry can smoke because of the health risks,” she told the Mail.

She added: “If I can do it, anyone can, because I’m the queen of addiction.”

Kirsty began her career with the Gloucester Citizen and worked for the Nottingham Evening Post as local government correspondent and on the newsdesk before becoming parliamentary reporter.

About 300 Mail readers have so far taken the no-smoking pledge.

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