I was extremely interested to see that the Liberal Democrats in Bolton have proposed a motion to the local council supporting my proposal to The Scottish Parliament for a plastic bag levy.

I am sure readers will be aware that this has already been successful in Ireland, with a 90 per cent reduction in plastic bags used. The levy has also been extremely successful in other countries where it has been introduced.

Cllr Elaine Sherrington must have her head in the sand when she says: "A tax on plastic bags is merely tokenism." Clearly in Scotland and in Bolton the Liberal Democrats are the only party who are taking environmental issues seriously.

The environment is the big issue today, and we all need to do everything we can to protect it.

I also recently suggested that our manifesto in Scotland would include a deposit scheme for all types of drinks containers. There can be no doubt that these schemes and others are inevitable, and I believe in a few years' time we will look back and ask: "Why didn't we do them sooner?".

Mike Pringle Lib Dem Member of Scottish Parliament Edinburgh South constituency