Branded cigarette packaging looks set to be outlawed as soon as the middle of next year.
Cigarettes will instead be sold in cardboard boxes from May 2016.
MPs will be asked to vote on the plans after doctors claimed any such move would save thousands of lives.
The proposals took some MPs by surprise when it was announced in Parliament last night.It is likely to attract cross party support
A ban on smoking in pricate cars will also be enforced from October 1.
"Smoking remains one of our most significant public health challenges.
"It is a major cause of cancer, heart and respiratory disease and almost 80,000 people in England alone die every year from ill health caused by smoking.
"It places an enormous strain on the NHS."
Chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies said: "Standardised packaging would be a positive move for public health, particularly the role it could play in helping to prevent the uptake of smoking by children.
"We have seen smoking rates decline, but smoking remains the single biggest cause of preventable mortality.
"We need to keep up our efforts on tobacco control and standardised packaging is an important part of that."
