Anti-smoking campaigners have said health inequality will be the key challenge the next Holyrood administration will have to address.

Ash Scotland said smoking rates in the most deprived communities are four times higher than they are in the wealthiest areas.

The group wants the next government to include smoking in its national strategy on mental health given a third of tobacco in the UK is said to be consumed by people with mental-health problems.

In addition, it called for action to raise awareness of higher dementia rates among smokers, with the risk of developing the disease up to 70% greater.

Ash Scotland said about 10,000 retailers across Scotland sell tobacco and, as such, is demanding assistance to help retailers shift their business model away from these sales.

Chief executive Sheila Duffy said: "Scotland's health priority must be to redress that balance and ensure every group has the support they need to take back control of their own health and well-being.

"Smoking is rarely a simple, freely-made lifestyle choice and is heavily influenced by a range of social and economic factors.

"To reduce the harm caused by tobacco, we need to look at the pressures which push certain groups to smoke and make it harder for them to quit.

"Socio-economic status, mental health and the context in which people grew up all have a huge impact on whether they smoke."

The Ash Scotland manifesto, produced ahead of May's Holyrood elections, said that in Scotland "health inequalities are the widest in western Europe".

It added: "Smoking rates in the most deprived communities are four times higher than in the richest.

"Almost half of adults who are permanently sick or disabled, or who are unemployed and seeking work, smoke tobacco.

"Smoking rates are particularly high amongst people with mental health issues, the prison population and children in care. In every one of these groups, most of those who smoke say that they want to stop."

The group said smoking rates among those suffering from mental illness are not declining as quickly as the rest of the population.

It said the national strategy on mental health must recognise that tobacco use is causing disproportionate harm to people with mental health issues.

It also said smoking should not be endorsed as “a support or coping mechanism”.

This, it said, would require “changes in the culture of mental health support services”.