Health Bill [HL]

Clause 19: Prohibition of tobacco displays etc Debate on Clause 19 stand part resumed. Before other Members of the Committee rise to speak, I wonder whether we might deal with a particular matter arising from our adjourned debate last Thursday. During that debate the noble Lord, Lord Laird, stated on more than one occasion that small shop keepers in Northern Ireland were supportive of the proposal to ban point-of-sale displays of tobacco. He used that as an argument to suggest that small shop keepers in England who opposed the ban were isolated in their view—I hope I am not misrepresenting him. Since last Thursday I have been contacted by two organisations representing smaller shop keepers in Northern Ireland: the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (Northern Ireland District). Both organisations emphatically repudiate the noble Lord’s assertion that Northern Ireland retailers have accepted the proposal to ban tobacco displays. In fact the NFRN says: ""Nothing could be further from the truth"." In the light of that, would the noble Lord like to correct or possibly withdraw the statement that he made last Thursday?