A massive gamble – but I still think move was right

ON the night of March 25, 2006, I was more nervous than at any other time during my six years as First Minister. The next day, our ban on smoking in public places would come into force and I went to bed wondering if people were going to stick to the new law on the Sunday, or if – as predicted by many – there would be trouble and chaos.

I believed we had done as much as we could to persuade people that this big change in our national culture was all about the future and therefore Scots should help us make it work. But we just didn’t know.

As the Sunday progressed, it became clear there were very few acts of defiance. The people had spoken. They had accepted that our new parliament had the authority to make a law like this and it was right for Scotland.

During our consultations in 2004, every single school that sent a submission supported a ban of some kind. That had convinced me that this was the right choice. But could we make it work?

The late Tom McCabe, who as deputy health minister had led the consultation, made my options clear: ‘You need to go with this. If we have a partial ban, you will have smoking pubs in the East End of Glasgow and non-smoking pubs in the West End. Do you want your legacy to be wider health inequalities, or do you want to really change Scotland? You have to be decisive about this. People will follow your lead if you seize this moment.’

He was right. Ten years on, the number of people smoking is down to about 20 per cent – and there has been a cultural change in our pubs and cafés. Obviously, there are still arguments about the impact on pubs and clubs. But I always took the view that there were twice as many people not smoking as there were smoking and most of the people who smoked wanted to give up anyway.

The decline in pubs was already happening before the ban, so I don’t attribute pub closures to the smoking ban at all.

People said to me Scotland couldn’t change, but I never believed that. I’m not a huge fan of bans and over-legislating, but sometimes there is a cause and a moment – and, in March 2006, Scotland embraced this cause.

It is the single piece of legislation I am most proud of, but I am even more proud of the Scottish people. It was their success.