9th
January 2007
McNeil
to Quiz First Minister on Date for Smoking Age Rise
MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan
McNeil, will quiz Jack McConnell on when the age for buying tobacco will be
raised to 18 at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday (11th
January 2007).
Speaking today, Mr McNeil,
whose amendment to the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005
gave Scottish Ministers the power to raise the minimum age for purchasing
tobacco, said:
“We know that the younger
you start smoking, the more difficult it is to stop and the more likely it is
that it will kill you.
“We have the powers in
place to raise the minimum age at which you can buy tobacco.
The experts on the Smoking Prevention Working Group examined the issue in
great detail and concluded that these powers should be used.
The BMA and others are in favour of an increase from 16 to 18, as is an
overwhelming majority of the public.
“Sadly, the Liberal
Democrats and their worries about the rights of tobacco companies have delayed
the change being made in Scotland. They
have blocked my efforts to get the Executive to move quickly and help stop our
children making the worst mistake of their lives.
“But they must now accept
that they have lost the argument and should drop their opposition to this move.
I will therefore be calling on the First Minister to announce the date on
which the law change will come into force.”
Mr McNeil’s First
Minister’s Question reads, “To ask the First Minister what progress is being
made towards setting a date for raising the age limit for buying tobacco to 18.
(S2F-2647)”
ENDS
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