The government is to give MPs a vote before May on regulations forcing tobacco firms to introduce plain packaging Photograph: Department of Health

Pro-smoking groups, Ukip and libertarian MPs have all condemned the governments surprise decision to bring forward a law on plain cigarette packaging before the general election.

Health minister Jane Ellison said on Wednesday night that the government would give MPs a vote before May on regulations forcing tobacco firms to introduce plain packaging and before the end of a consultation exercise about the idea.

Farage, the Rothmans-smoking leader of the UK Independence party, said the proposal represented meddling in the free market that would damage the economy. Condemning the move in a tweet, he said: Plain packaging is an appalling intrusion into consumer choice and the operation of the free market. Jobs and tax revenue would suffer.

Writing in the Independent, Farage said: I call it a deliberate and nonsensical imposition on a market worth around 12bn to the Treasury, and which keeps around 66,000 people in jobs.

But forget the financials, or the employment figures, as Labour are so willing to do. Instead, lets focus on the evidence. Does plain packaging really stop people smoking? The best example we have is in Australia, where since plain packaging was introduced in 2012, household expenditure on tobacco has actually increased. And so has the black market in cigarettes.

These are the effects of banning things that should be readily available to responsible adults in a free society. Not, as the meddlesome politicians will try to tell you, a response that they would like to see. But rather quite the opposite.

Ukip MP Mark Reckless, who defected to the party last year, tweeted: Plain packs for cigarettes as enshrining overseas aid at 7% GDP unites Cons with left wing quangocrats against public. Only @UKIP will fight.

The vote is likely to see some libertarian Tories voting against the measure. Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, echoed Ukips concerns.

He told the Daily Mail that the governments announcement was a triumph for the nanny state. Davies added: This flies in the face of every Conservative principle.

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Plain cigarette packaging: pro-smoking groups and Ukip condemn move