Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

Above all, on this important problem, we have to change the fashion among teenagers for smoking. That will take time. It will not happen in a year but that does not mean that the amendment is a bad idea. Collecting the data within a reasonable length of time will be useful, although a year may not be long enough—I do not know enough about the technicalities. However, it is the fashion that has to change. We all know that teenagers spread fashions among themselves and that it is still very fashionable to smoke among many of them. That is why our education process, although useful, is not the end of the story. The teenagers themselves have got to change their minds about what it is fun and cool to do. At the moment, it is still cool for many to smoke. I hope that, gradually—through government measures, what is said in Parliament and, above all, through what is written in teenage magazines—the fashion will change. Then, we shall scotch the problem, but not until then.