Shopkeepers demand stricter laws for selling tobacco – including raising age limit

Shopkeepers are demanding stricter laws to protect people’s health, with many concerned for children vaping, a new report has said.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) surveyed 961 small tobacco retailers across the UK.

The research found eight out of 10 (81%) agree there should be compulsory rules in place to prevent selling tobacco to children and stop illegal sales.

An equal proportion also supported a mandatory age verification for anyone who looks under 25, to aid enforcement in England.

Only one in 20 shopkeepers opposed both these measures.

The poll also revealed that over half (54%) of retailers believe the age for buying tobacco should be increased from 18 to 21.

When asked whether tobacco manufacturers should have to pay a government fee to support people quitting and avoiding smoking, 73% agreed that they should.

While many retailers hold these anti-tobacco views, the study found 76% don’t want to isolate local smokers from buying other products at their stores and 51% said their overall profits are reliant on the revenue.

Although, most shopkeepers agreed that cigarettes themselves do not make much profit in comparison to other items, stocking it does help increase the chances of the customer buying additional products.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH said: “To achieve a smoke-free 2030, the Government needs to ratchet up regulations to support smokers to quit and to prevent young people starting to smoke.”

“Retailers aren’t anti-regulation; they know that good regulation can make their lives easier by ensuring there’s a level playing field”, she added.

The report also indicated that 71% of retailers support bigger fines for breaking the law, 81% back more regular checks by trading standards, and 79% support closure orders for retailers that repeatedly break laws.

In terms of e-cigarettes, more than half of retailers said they expect them to become more significant to their business over the next decade.

Yet 69% supported stricter rules to limit their appeal to children including use of colours, cartoon characters and naming e-cigarettes after sweets.

The report concluded that the Government should “not be deterred from introducing new tobacco control measures because of concerns about their impact on local retailers”.

“Among retailers, support for new measures far outweighs opposition, even for measures which will directly affect daily sales of tobacco products including the proposed increase in the age of sale from 18 to 21.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The Government continues to enforce strong regulations around the sale of cigarettes which help smokers to quit, and protect future generations from starting this lethal habit.

“We are currently considering the wide range of independent recommendations as set out in the Khan Review (published in June), which includes further regulation. We will provide a further update in due course.”