Keir Starmer warned he's handing 'yet another gift to China' with key Labour bill

Keir Starmer has been warned that one of his key government bills will be a huge gift to China, as he faces accusations he is cosying up with the rogue state. The warning comes as Peers debate the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which aims to create a 'smoke free generation' by banning young people from ever legally buying cigarettes and stamping down on vapes.

However the government has faced repeat warnings that taxes and anti-smoking laws are causing a boom in the illegal black market, which China will take major advantage of. A Tory MP has now warned that the Bill will punish small retailers and drive smokers to the black market, while providing a huge windfall to foreign criminal gangs. Most illegal vapes being seized by British enforcement agencies are manufactured in China, and smuggled through international criminal networks.

Jack Rankin, the MP for Windsor, told the Express that the planned law "will be the latest example of a Labour Government cosying up to and facilitating China's influence and presence in Britain".

He said: "If Labour were serious about stopping illegal imports, they would focus on customs enforcement and source tracing, not punishing the corner shop. This Bill rewards the very Chinese manufacturers and criminal gangs the government should be targeting."

Public health experts are warning that the restricting or banning of legal vapes could push former smokers to relapse, or towards unsafe black market products.

In turn, sky-high sin taxes on tobacco, which many expect Rachel Reeves to put up at her coming November Budget, will drive people away from the legal market and towards illegal alternatives.

The UK's trade in counterfeit tobacco is now the third-largest in Europe by both volume and the proportion of cigarettes smoked, despite ranking in the bottom 20% for smoking prevalence.

Hotspots include London, the West Midlands and the North-west, with about £3.15billion in tax revenue lost from the exchequer as a result.

Trading Standards now faces an enormous uphill battle to police the illicit trade, seizing 46million black market cigarettes and 12,600kg of hand-rolling tobacco in the last three years.

In 2023-24 alone, more than 19million illicit cigarettes and 5,103kg of hand-rolling tobacco were seized by the body, worth £11.7million.

Lord Michael Bichard, chairman of National Trading Standards, said: "Trading Standards has seized nearly 1.2million illegal vapes and more than £26million worth of illicit tobacco so far. But the reality is further action is necessary to remove more illegal - and in many cases dangerous - products from sale."

This week, a new survey by the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association of 6,000 UK smokers found that one in five admit to buying tobacco from illegal sources, rising to just shy of one in four in London.

This comes as tax receipts from tobacco products continue to fall by up to £1billion each year.

The average price of a 20-pack of illicit cigarettes is reportedly between £3 and £6, while the legal counterpart is a whopping £16.60.