Berger: Critics of car smoke ban opposed seatbelt laws

Shadow public health minister Luciana Berger has said those opposed to a ban on smoking in cars carrying children are the same people who railed against the introduction of laws enforcing seatbelt use throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

The Labour MP, who is urging her Commons colleagues to vote in favour of the ban, said health figures suggest around half a million children are exposed to second hand smoke in the back of the car on a weekly basis.

Critics of the anti-smoking legislation, though, have said such a ban cannot be implemented or will be ineffective - a similar argument, Ms Berger said, that was used to oppose seatbelt laws.

She admitted that "we don't have the exact specifics about how it will work in practice", but said MPs will look to "states in the US," plus "Canada, Australia and South Africa", to see how their equivalent laws are targeting offenders.