𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Shoppers who buy black-market cigarettes are funding child abuse, Britain’s top trading standards chief has warned MPs.

Lord Bichard, chair of National Trading Standards, said the illicit tobacco trade was no petty crime but increasingly tied to organised gangs, child exploitation and money laundering.

He urged ministers to make that warning the centrepiece of public campaigns as MPs launched an inquiry into rescuing Britain’s struggling high streets.

It comes as a Labour MP demanded more cash for overstretched trading standards teams, warning honest shopkeepers are being undercut by crooks selling fakes, illegal vapes and illicit tobacco.

Lord Bichard told the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee: “I think government could do more to help us, is to bring home to people that when they buy illicit tobacco, what they’re actually doing is funding child abuse.”

He added: “Not many people want to fund child abuse.”

The peer said: “A lot of people think that what’s happening is quite low-level crime, but it isn’t. It’s increasingly linked to organised crime.”

Josh Nicholson, of the Centre for Social Justice, told the committee charities had reported children exploited by criminals running such shops, and “being given vapes that are laced with spice and other forms of drugs”.

He said: “In some areas over half of vape shops and mini-marts are thought to be linked to organised crime groups, which is an astonishing stat.”

The think tank said Freedom of Information data showed only 8% of shops raided for illicit tobacco were closed afterwards.

Lord Bichard branded the rules on shutting rogue traders “ridiculous”, and said raids often found the shelves bare. He told MPs: “Most of the stock is in a car somewhere down the road, I kid you not.”

He said trading standards had been “starved of resources”. One London borough had no officers at all last year, and some prosecutions take up to eight years.

Oliver Ryan, Labour MP for Burnley, said: “Too many decent local businesses are being undercut by shops selling counterfeit goods, illegal vapes and illicit tobacco.

“Trading Standards officers do remarkable work, but after years of cuts, they simply can’t be everywhere at once.”

He added: “Beefing up Trading Standards would help further protect consumers, support the responsible retailers who keep our town centres alive, and help restore pride in our high streets.”