Car smoking restriction passed without Society-backed amendments

The Scottish Parliament has passed the bill to ban smoking in cars while children are present, but rejected an amendment backed by the Law Society of Scotland to extend its scope to the use of e-cigarettes.

The Smoking Prohibition (Children in Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Bill, a member's bill sponsored by Liberal Democrat Jim Hume, creates a new criminal offence in a bid to protect the health of under-18s. However MSPs voted down an amendment that would have extended its scope to e-cigarettes. The Society had argued for the extension pending better knowledge about the health impact of the devices.

A separate amendment backed by the Society that would have provided for a review of the legislation after five years was also defeated.

Alison Britton, convener of the Society’s Health & Medical Law Committee, commented: “The passing of this bill is great news for the health and wellbeing of children, the harmful effects of tobacco and smoking are undisputed, as well as the effects of secondhand smoke. We had hoped that the legislation be extended to expressly prohibit the use of e-cigarettes as well as conventional cigarettes, especially in relation to young people, so it is disappointing to see this hasn’t been included.

“We also proposed a review of the legislation within five years to ascertain how well it was working, and we are disappointed that MSPs voted against such a review. Taking into account there will undoubtedly be an updating of research, not only into the effects of e-cigarettes, but the harmful effects of tobacco in general in the next few years, this would have potentially given us the opportunity to ensure that the legislation remained fit for purpose.”