JTI calls on government to take a stand against illegal tobacco
MPs and peers congregated in Parliament's Dining Room A on Wednesday afternoon at an event hosted by Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in order to ‘Take a stand against illegal tobacco’.
The availability of cheap, illegal tobacco is an often-unreported crime that HM Revenue and Customs estimates cost the Exchequer £2.4bn last year in lost tax revenue. “It’s enough to make even an Ulsterman blush,” quipped DUP MP Ian Paisley, who co-hosted the event along with Conservative MP David Morris and Labour’s Stephen Hepburn.
Attendees included Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Smith, Labour former frontbencher Toby Perkins and ex-Conservative minister John Whittingdale. They were walked through how JTI helps to support UK law enforcement and Trading Standards in cracking down on illegal tobacco sales through the company’s test purchasing of goods across Britain, working with media to raise awareness, and assisting overseas authorities in Poland and other eastern European countries in tackling the illegal manufacture of cigarettes.
Since 2015 JTI has found 264 locations selling illegal tobacco, with a startling one in eight retailers in London carrying out the practice. After the introduction of plain packaging, fears are growing that ease of replication has enhanced dramatically, whereas before illegal cigarettes would be more discernible as they seek to imitate existing brands. JTI also collaborates with Comsec, who through their investigative services search the internet and social media feeds to uncover the illegal sale of tobacco, which they then pass on back to the media channels and JTI, to inform the authorities.
The stalls on display at the event culminated in one titled, “What can you do?” JTI is seeking for a free-of-charge registration scheme for tobacco retailers to help HMRC and Trading Standards crackdown on the illegal sale of tobacco, similar to that seen in Scotland. Here, firms not on the register but found selling tobacco would be penalised, and firms on the register but found to be distributing illegal products to would also face fines or charges for repeat offenders.
Addressing MPs and peers, Mr Paisley said: “It galls me that the private sector industry has to go to this length, and to this effort to say to HMRC, to say to the police authority and to say to government, ‘please help us’. Because it is about the money. That £2.4bn will change our constituencies and it’s being lost. It’s being lost because the authorities quite frankly have turned a blind eye to the impact of that illicit trade across our country. I think that is a warning.”
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