Health Bill [HL]

I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, on introducing these clauses. I put my name to one of them and am happy to support the other. If I might be allowed a small party point, I hope that her presence in this debate alongside the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, indicates that the Government and those of us who believe in tobacco control will be able to count on substantial support from the Liberal Benches when we debate these issues on Report. It is important that these measures get through for all the reasons that have been expressed in successive debates in this Committee. We do not need to go over old ground or to describe why the tobacco industry and tobacco products are not normal. It is unlike any other industry because of its product’s uniquely deadly characteristics. If I might add my own personal anecdote to that of the noble Baroness, when I first started working in a consultancy in the early 1970s, the firm I worked for had Imperial Tobacco as one of its clients. Since I knew a bit about Parliament, I was encouraged to get involved in some of its parliamentary relations activities. I can tell the Committee that the main objective of Imperial Tobacco’s parliamentary activity was to be sufficiently nice to a number of Members of Parliament in all parties to ensure that on a Friday, when Private Members’ Bills came up in the House of Commons to limit tobacco advertising and sponsorship, there would always be two or three of them there to say "Object!" at the crucial moment. For many years, this tactic worked brilliantly. The Government did not have the courage to introduce their own legislation at that time, and it was easily possible to block Private Members’ Bills in this way.