Criminal gangs selling illicit cigarettes in shops across the UK are “accelerating” the decline of Britain’s high streets and must be stopped, the Co-op has warned Andy Burnham.
The black market trade of tobacco is undermining the Prime Minister’s push to rejuvenate UK high streets, eroding public safety and weakening community cohesion, the cigarettes-to-funerals seller has said.
The Co-op has tabled a white paper which calls on the government to plough more money into police raids on crime networks selling cigarettes and other illicit goods on Britain’s high streets.
Paul Gerrard, the Co-op’s director of campaigns, said that “shadow and illicit economics are shaping the face of high streets up and down the UK, creating an unsafe environment, impacting legitimate business, [and] preventing £1.4bn [from] reaching the public purse”.
More than one third of British smokers (36 per cent) have bought illicit cigarettes, 62 per cent of whom turn to the underground market because it is cheaper, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by the Co-op.
Illicit cigarettes are available from the country’s corner shops and vape shops for as little as £5 per pack, the retail group claims. More than 10bn illicit cigarettes were smoked across the UK last year, according to the firm.
The Co-op has published freedom of information data obtained from the government which shows that, on average, councils visit just four shops per month to investigate the sale of illegal cigarettes.
The average English council confiscates illegal tobacco from just one shop every two weeks, seizing the equivalent of one illegal cigarette per resident every three years, the data shows.
Co-op: High streets ‘need more policing’
Professor Emmeline Taylor, a criminologist commissioned by the Co-op to write its white paper, said her research has found that high street crime “distorts local economies, undermines legitimate commerce, erodes public confidence and weakens the opportunities for successful regeneration”.
The white paper says that “crime and anti-social behaviour represent one of the greatest barriers” to Andy Burnham’s pledge to revitalise British high streets.
“Beyond the immediate harm they cause, they diminish perceptions of safety, deter investment and erode public confidence,” it says.
The Co-op’s white paper calls on the government to accelerate the closure of “rogue” high street businesses, allow the police to access HMRC’s tracking data on the trade of cigarettes and boost the police’s visibility in town centres.
“Co-op has been the leading voice on tackling retail crime within our own shops, but we need Government and local authorities to invest more time, money and effort into fighting the illicit tobacco trade, which is growing to unprecedented levels,” Gerrard said.
Earlier this year, the government launched a £30m enforcement operation designed to crack down on illegal tobacco sales, tax evasion and organised crime among local shops. Gerrard said this fund “won’t even touch the sides of the problem”.
He added: “Increased investment now will reap long term benefits, not only to the public purse, but to drive social and commercial benefits of thriving high streets and communities.”