Meeting of the Parliament 05 February 2026 [Draft]
This has been an interesting debate and the speeches that we have heard today have made the rationale for the bill clear. On a point of historical interest, it feels to me as if we have imperceptibly shifted and are going back to the era of the barber surgeon and of insufficient regulation. It is important to note that the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was originally called the Edinburgh Guild of Barbers and Surgeons. We moved away from that sort of back-street practice for good reason, but if we do not recognise the shifts in medical and clinical trends, we are in danger of a slippage in patient and public safety.
That is why the legislation is welcome. One of the basic rules of good governance is that, when society changes, our laws and regulations must be kept up to date to reflect that. I think that everyone here today recognises that the world of non-surgical cosmetic procedures has been transformed. Something that was once the realm of celebrities and the super-rich, or that we might watch on the Discovery channel, is increasingly ubiquitous in society. We see discounted Botox, chemical peels and other non-surgical cosmetic procedures and it seems that there is a story almost every other week about an alcohol-fuelled Botox party or a non-surgical cosmetic procedure gone wrong. We have heard some horror stories in speeches today and the committee even heard of hotel rooms and garden sheds being used as places where people could go to have such procedures. That worrying situation is in desperate need of state regulation.
We must be clear that it is not for Parliament to determine a person’s choice about how they wish to present themselves to the world, but it is imperative that any new and emerging industry has the necessary protections and regulations in place to ensure public safety. We know that many providers keep to high standards but also know that many, sadly, do not. That is the point of having a regulatory floor. Just as we require the highest standards in the national health service, from clinicians in private practice and from our factories and service industries, the safety of patients, consumers and staff must always be maintained. That is why Labour supports the bill in principle.