It was in the 1570s that national hero, Sir Walter Raleigh, brought the first Virginia tobacco to Europe from the British colony in North America. Tobacco is still smoked by 6.4 million adult cigarette, cigar and pipe smokers in the United Kingdom, so it is important that its sale remains legal and properly regulated.
Recently, on Spalding’s Winsover Road alone, four premises within 50 yards of one another have been shut down for selling illegal cigarettes. Many of these shops are owned by foreign organised criminal gangs operating far from South Holland, though commonly employing individuals living locally, some with no right to work here in Britain.
In fact, many of the shops have little or no interest in lawful trading whatsoever, because cut-price illegal cigarettes are often a front for other nefarious activities, notably money laundering.
Aware that the evidence shows that closing these types of shops can lead to a 12% reduction in anti-social behaviour and violent crime, Lincolnshire Police have been working closely with the County Council’s Trading Standards team to close them down. Their progress in doing featured in my meetings with both our Police and Crime Commissioner in Parliament and with our local police force.
Shops do not need a licence from the local authority to sell tobacco legally, whereas those which sell alcohol and tobacco have a Premises Licence, which means alcohol sold must be consumed off the premises, unlike a pub, bar or licenced restaurant. As legitimate firms across Lincolnshire have been put out of business by this unfair competition from traders who pay no tax, obtain their goods illicitly and launder money, it is important that when shops lose their Premises Licence to sell alcohol when they are caught selling or stocking illegal cigarettes that the crooks are blacklisted permanently.
More can be done by the Government to support the police, which is why I have asked questions in Parliament to establish the extent of this dangerous, deceitful trade, and in particular how many shops have been served closure orders for the sale of illegal tobacco in Lincolnshire in each of the last five years. The key is for excellent local policing to be supported by the National Crime Agency and HMRC’s investigations to stop money laundering and all other related organised crime.
Public safety is being jeopardised. Though legal cigarettes must self-extinguish, their illegal, poorly-made counterparts – sold illicitly – do not; posing risks in smokers’ homes, or outside where dry leaves, wood, grass, fertiliser and fuel are all commonplace. That risk was horribly manifest when in 2016 three men died in a fire in a Spalding house caused by an illegal cigarette, and just two years ago an elderly woman died in a similar inferno after dropping one into her armchair.
Such tragedies are avoidable, which is why I am calling for shops selling tobacco legally to require a licence. All our responsible local traders must be supported to compete on a level playing field, as foreign organised crime must no longer undercut our legitimate businesses, bring crime to our high streets and put the public at risk.
