Well done to Humza Yousaf for listening to the Record’s plea on the blight of disposable vapes.
And credit to Green politician Gillian Mackay for raising our new campaign highlighting the shocking extent of e-cigs pollution in Scotland today. It’s welcome that the Scottish Government will now review the sale of these products, consult experts and consider implementing a ban.
Our campaign to outlaw these single-use devices is based on hard evidence. The boom these products have enjoyed is matched only by the scale of litter and pollution they generate on our streets, beaches and green spaces.
In the UK, 1.3million are chucked away every week – two every second. Enough to cover 22 football pitches. This is in a society in Scotland that has taken major steps to ban single-use plastics – with a government that claims it wants to bring in an eco-friendly, “circular” economy where we waste fewer things.
There is just no way allowing a whole new type of rampant plastic pollution to spoil our communities and threaten our wildlife fits into that vision. Not just plastic, but hazardous chemicals too.
The SNP-Green government must see that. Our campaign has also been inspired by the likes of Laura Young, the intrepid young activist who has made it her mission to shout about this problem for anyone who’ll hear it.
It seems, perhaps, that message is starting to get through to those with the power to fix it. The battle is not won yet but it’s good to see a politician listening to what a growing chorus of campaigners are saying.
And that is these throwaway plastic vapes must be binned for good.
Keep rents real
Rises in mortgage payments for homeowners have been dominating the headlines, but tenants have also faced financial pain.
Rents in some parts of the country, such as Edinburgh, are disgracefully high and take a big chunk of income out of the pockets of ordinary people. Temporary rent controls during the pandemic were essential and gave tenants respite.
A recent freeze by the Government was also welcome and the news a three per cent cap will be put in place for six months is another progressive step. The days of the free market allowing landlords to impose big rises on tenants looks to be over.
But we cannot move from one short-term fix to another, as patchwork solutions are unfair to everyone. What we need in Scotland is a permanent system of rent controls that regulates the rent that can be charged.
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