Viewpoint: I welcome the government’s plans to ban acid sales to under 18s

Over the past few months I have been using my position on the London Assembly to campaign for stronger measures to tackle acid attacks.

I welcome the home secretary’s plans to ban the sale of corrosive subjects to people under 18 and for changes to the law to make it an offence to possess these substances in a public place.

However, I am still calling on the government to go further, including taking additional steps to make it harder to buy acid online.

At a local level, I am glad that a second planning application to site concrete plants next to housing developments near the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was rejected last month.

I would like to thank all those local residents and councillors who have campaigned against this for the past year.

I hope that we can now look at alternative uses for this industrial land, which are more sympathetic to the people living in this area.