A PROPOSED new law which could stop teenagers like Darlington schoolgirl Katie Turner using sunbeds has received its second reading in Parliament.

MPs on Friday approved a bill which will ban all under-18s from using sunbeds, in a victory for The Northern Echo's Sunbed Safety campaign.

The Northern Echo launched its campaign in 2008 after Katie was hospitalised following a 20-minute session under lamps at a salon near her home.

Her cause received the backing of Darlington MP Alan Milburn, the former Health Secretary.

Fellow Labour MP Julie Morgan (Cardiff North) put forward a private members bill before Parliament earlier this month.

Yesterday it received unopposed backing of MPs for a second time during its process through the legal system.

The Bill would place a duty on salon operators to prevent the use of sunbeds by under-18s and gives local enforcement officers the power to inspect the businesses and penalise owners who breach the ban.

It would also allow ministers in England and Wales to regulate to stop children hiring or buying sunbeds and ban unmanned automatic tanning salons.

Clear health information would also be required in salons, setting out the dangers of sunbed use.

Mrs Morgan said: "Research commissioned by Cancer Research UK last year found that in England six per cent of 11-17 year-olds - and that's more than a quarter of a million children - have used sunbeds.

"I think that's quite a shocking statistic. In hotspots such as Liverpool or Sunderland, the research found half of 15-17-year-old girls used sunbeds."