(Harrow East) (Con)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about
the sale by retail of tobacco and related goods; and for
connected purposes.
In the Backbench Business debate last week the Minister, my hon.
Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O’Brien), who I see is in
his place, restated the Government’s commitment to making England
smoke free by 2030. However, as he knows, we are not on track.
Indeed, according to the most up-to-date data on smoking
prevalence published by University College London, smoking rates
have flattened since 2020. If the Government are serious about
achieving a smoke free 2030, then the status quo is not
sufficient.
Ratcheting up regulations and closing loopholes is crucial to any
serious plan to support smokers in quitting and to prevent young
people from starting to smoke. Requiring tobacco retailers to be
licensed to sell tobacco would be a major step forward. That is
not just my view; it is also the view of Javed Khan OBE, who
recommended tobacco retail licensing in his independent review of
smoke free 2030 policies earlier this year.
It has long been the case that to sell alcohol in England
retailers must possess a licence, which is registered with their
local authority. If a retailer breaks the conditions of the
licence, for example by selling alcohol to someone aged under 18,
their licence can be revoked, preventing them from selling
alcohol legally and depriving them of revenue. That is crucial in
helping to reduce under-age sales, as well as in preventing the
vast majority of law-abiding retailers from being undercut by an
irresponsible few.
Cigarettes, which are much more harmful and addictive than
alcohol, require no such licence. Smoking killed around 78,000
people in England in 2020, while alcohol was directly responsible
for around 7,000 deaths. Two thirds of those who try just one
cigarette go on to become addicted daily smokers and the vast
majority of those dying from smoking each year were addicted as
children. The latest survey by Action on Smoking and Health found
that 60% of child smokers buy their cigarettes from shops, yet
there is no requirement for retailers to have a licence to sell
tobacco, which kills its users.
This Bill would rectify that egregious gap in the regulation of
retailers, meeting an important recommendation in Javed Khan’s
independent review into making smoking obsolete. He recommended
that a retail licensing scheme should be rolled out nationally
and administered by local authorities. The cost of the licence
should be determined by each local authority, with a national
minimum set.
Javed Khan also recommended that criminal retailers who break the
regulations or fail to carry out age verification should lose the
tobacco licence for their premises. Any loopholes for
transferring licences to new names or to alternative premises
should be closed. Selling tobacco without a licence must be an
offence attracting heavy financial penalties, and local
authorities must be able to attach public health criteria to the
licence, such as prohibiting sales near schools, requiring the
sale of less harmful alternatives and displaying stop smoking
advice on retail premises.
Those recommendations all seem very sensible and I support them.
Requiring tobacco retailers to be licensed could help to prevent
sales to children and sales of illicit tobacco by giving local
authorities greater powers to take effective action against those
who do not adhere to the regulations. Retail licensing would also
protect honest small businesses up and down the country, which
sell only tax paid products to adults, but are undercut every day
by those willing to sell smuggled tobacco to anybody who wants
it—an illicit trade run by criminal gangs, with dishonest
retailers acting as their conduit to the public.
This measure would be relatively simple to implement. Retailers
are used to complying with alcohol licensing schemes and are
already required to have an economic operator ID before they can
trade in tobacco under tobacco tracking and tracing regulations.
However, the current system is not designed to be used for
enforcement at point of sale by trading standards, which is why
further regulation is needed.
Retail licensing is the obvious back up to the tracking and
tracing of cigarettes and would help to tackle the illicit trade
in this country, which gives smokers access to cheap tobacco.
Those who sell illegal tobacco have no compunction about selling
it to children, so the illegal trade makes it not only less
likely that smokers will quit, but more likely that children will
start smoking.
Retailers are not anti-regulation; they know that good regulation
can make their lives easier by ensuring a level playing field and
protecting the health of their customers. That is why survey
findings published last week in a new report from Action on
Smoking and Health and the all-party parliamentary group on
smoking and health, titled “Regulation is not a dirty word”,
found that more than eight in 10 of local retailers support the
introduction of a tobacco licence, backed up by mandatory age
verification. Licensing is also supported by more than eight in
10 members of the public, with only 3% opposed.
Under the current system, stretched trading standards teams are
left with few options for identifying and cracking down on
retailers who repeatedly flout tobacco regulations. Retail
licensing backed up by mandatory age verification would give
councils a critical new tool for preventing under-age sales and
illicit tobacco.
Currently there is only a voluntary scheme in place, Challenge
25—not a legal requirement, as it has been in Scotland since
2017. It is very unusual for me to praise Scotland, I know, but
the system in Scotland is supported by over 90% of retailers.
There is a range of ID that young people can use, including the
UK’s national proof of age accreditation scheme, endorsed by the
Home Office, the National Police Chiefs Council and the Security
Industry Authority. Unlike in England, in Scotland retailers
cannot get away with saying they did not realise someone was
under age. Introducing the same system in England would make
enforcement easier for trading standards.
The current system leaves councils with one hand tied behind
their backs in the fight against illicit tobacco and under-age
sales. To quote John Herriman, chief executive of the Chartered
Trading Standards Institute,
“Trading Standards professionals deal with tobacco retailers
every day, and we know that the majority of them are law abiding,
and understand the need for increased enforcement to stop
unscrupulous traders willing to sell cheap and illicit tobacco,
and to sell to children. A mandatory licence to sell tobacco and
age verification for anyone who looks under 25 would make it
easier for trading standards to enforce the law, to the benefit
of reputable retailers.”
I am sure hon. Members across this House will agree that it is
time we caught up with our friends in Scotland. The Government
should listen to retailers, to trading standards officers and to
the public and get on with introducing these popular and sensible
measures without delay.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That , , , , , , , and present the Bill.
accordingly presented the Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 9
December, and to be printed (Bill 187).
