Report to the People
17th September 2007
Better Late
than Never
It
is said that almost all political careers end in disappointment because, no
matter what you want to change when you set out, you will inevitably become
disheartened by how long it takes and how tortuous the system can be.
But
patience sometimes pays off, as it did on Thursday when MSPs finally passed the
regulations which will raise the minimum age for buying cigarettes from 16 to
18.
Having
fought for this change since 2005, when I succeeded in amending the Smoking,
Health and Social Care Bill to give Ministers the powers to raise the age, I am
delighted the parliament has voted for a move which will help stop young people
taking up the lethal habit.
This,
of course, should have been done years ago, but it was beset by infuriating
delays. The Liberals, for example,
objected because it was against their policy of letting 16-year-olds drink and
smoke. Ministers then agreed to set
up an expert group, led by Dr Laurence Gruer of NHS Health Scotland, to examine
the issue, but, even though it recommended in November 2006 that the age should
be increased, we still had to wait while the regulations were drawn up.
Only
after all that did MSPs get the chance to have their say.
But,
when they did, the majority agreed to raise the age and make it harder for young
teenagers to buy cigarettes and harder to make the worst mistake of their lives.
And that, after all, is what matters.
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