Orders of the Day — Clause 7, — (Tobacco Dealers.)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 May 1963.

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Photo of Mr Kenneth Thompson Mr Kenneth Thompson , Liverpool, Walton 12:00, 14 May 1963

I must declare a three-fold interest. First, I am a smoker, a rather more enthusiastic one than the hon. Member for Huddersfield, West (Mr. Wade). Secondly, I have a somewhat minimal interest in the retail tobacco trade. Thirdly, I have arranged facilities for the tobacco trade to explain its case to hon. Members at a meeting in the House of Commons tomorrow night. The Finance Bill has got away at such a reckless gallop that my arrangements have misfired. It had seemed to me that, since the tobacconists, who know most about the processes of the distribution of tobacco, have strong feelings about my right hon. Friend's proposal to abolish this duty, they should have a chance to explain their point of view to hon. Members. This is very largely the case which has just been made out by the hon. Member for Huddersfield, West.

There are two very important factors which my right hon. Friend ought seriously to consider. First, whatever we may say about it still being very naughty to sell cigarettes to children, under these new provisions it will be inconceivably more difficult to keep that kind of trade under control, no matter what anybody else says. We will have—this may be in every other way desirable—the ice-cream cart and the milkman's float carrying cigarettes for perfectly legitimate purposes and retailing them to adults who want to smoke.

The ice-cream vendor will find himself outside school premises when the children are coming out of school. However virtuous the man in charge may be, he will be under very considerable temptation indeed not to make sure that everybody who buys them is above the age of consent, or above the age of the Chancellor's consent to smoke. It will be extraordinarily difficult to control this kind of sale. If the Committee is committed to any point of view about smoking, it is that we should place all the impediments we can think of in the way of young people starting to smoke. This is where our campaign ought to have its strongest focus.

Secondly, it is very important that the police should not be further handicapped in their efforts to stop the sale of stolen cigarettes. I have mentioned my connection with the trade, which at one time was quite considerable but which has now almost disappeared. I know very well that there is a very large trade indeed, which in most cases is done across perfectly legitimate retail counters, in cigarettes which at some point in their history have been stolen. They find their way into and out of trade channels in the oddest ways. It is very difficult to identify what they are and where they come from. If we suddenly make it possible for every barrow at every street corner, for every ice-cream vendor and every mobile trader, to be able to acquire, by whatever means he thinks appropriate, even if accidentally dishonestly, the cigarettes he needs, the job of the police force in controlling this traffic will be very considerably increased.

I very much hope that my right hon. Friend will take seriously some of the observations which have been made in this brief discussion, for what is a perfectly well-intentioned proposal, which would on the face of it have the unanimous support of everybody in the Committee, may well have some very serious consequences which were not foreseen when the proposal was put forward.