SCOTTISH Labour has urged the SNP Scottish government to save thousands of lives every year by matching England’s lung screening programme.

The UK National Screening Committee recommended screening for all those aged 55 and 74 with a history of smoking, but so far only England has begun to roll it out.

Cancer Research UK argue the policy could avert as many as 2,300 deaths in Scotland from the country’s most common cancer — lung cancer — if introduced, but the SNP Scottish government have yet to enact the policy, instead piloting it in just four of Scotland’s 14 health board areas.