The uniparty strikes again. Just as Labour seeks to press ahead with Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban, new data shows that a tobacco black market is ballooning.
According to figures from research company Circana, spending on illegal tobacco in 2023/24 was £5.7 billion — up from £4.2 billion the previous year and £3.5 billion in 2020. As Guido Fawkes notes, that £5.7 billion figure is roughly equivalent to a quarter of the police budget. If Keir Starmer really wants to be tough on crime, maybe he should reconsider the ban. Talk about black holes…
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