Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I very much support the noble Lord, Lord Borrie. Although I shall not repeat what he has said, I totally concur because the legal dimensions of this are, frankly, awe-inspiring or frightening, whatever the right phrase is. We do not need to cover them again; they were clearly placed on the record in Grand Committee. I will mention a couple of other new dimensions. First, the very existence of a brand, whether it be a cigarette or anything else, gives the customer a reassurance of quality. We know already that, roughly speaking, a third of our tobacco products are imported from somewhere or other and, without a brand, my friends, you will find that the importation of other products in plain packaging will dramatically increase. Canada has already seen that since the display ban the importation of products to Canada has risen to 50 per cent of the market. From a health point of view, relating just to tobacco, it is important that those who decide to purchase know that they are getting a product of guaranteed quality and not a bit of grass that has been put together somewhere in the world. The other dimension that I want to mention concerns looking at what other countries have done. Occasionally in this country, we need to look at what others do. Both the Canadian and Australian Governments, having weighed up the legal advice, have decided that they are not going down this route. The reasons for that are partially because of the points that the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, raised; partially for the reasons that I have just given; and not least that because companies right across the consumer goods market value their brands—and they have a tremendous value—any Government tempted down this route will find themselves having to pay enormous compensation for the loss of a brand.