Convenience retailers have issued a direct and urgent call to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, warning that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, if enacted in its current form, will significantly expand the illicit tobacco and vape market, intensify retail crime and impose unworkable enforcement pressures on small businesses.
With the Bill advancing through the House of Lords, more than 1000 small business owners, including convenience stores, newsagents, independent supermarkets and forecourts have formally written to the Prime Minister requesting immediate engagement before the legislation reaches its final Parliamentary stages.
The Save Our Shops campaign was spearheaded by Asian Trader, , the leading business title serving over 40,000 independent convenience in the UK.
Kalpesh Solanki, Group Managing Editor of Asian Media Group, publisher of Asian Trader, said “retailers are the ones that deal with crime and the illicit market every single day, yet the Government has not listened.
“If the Bill goes through as it is, criminals will thrive, violence in stores will rise, and honest retailers will be left to pick up the pieces. That is why we are calling for the Prime Minister to meet with us urgently before it is too late.”
The message is unambiguous- the legislation, in its current form, will supercharge the illicit tobacco and vape market, escalate retail crime, and leave legitimate shopkeepers out of pocket, while doing little to achieve its stated public health aims.
The consequences of the generational ban will fall hardest on convenience store owners, the majority of whom are multi-generational, family-run businesses embedded in towns, housing estates and rural communities across the UK.
The numbers also make this a community issue. About 75 per cent of all convenience stores are Asian owned and this figure rises to 95 per cent within the M25 and major conurbations.
These enterprising retailers who operate at the heart of local communities have also been subject to a rising tide of racial abuse and there are growing fears this new legislation will make the situation worse.
Many of these family enterprises have suffered racial and sometimes violent abuse. More than 59,000 incidents of violence were recorded in the convenience sector last year, with enforcing age-restricted sales identified as one of the primary flashpoints.
In addition, over 1.2 million incidents of abuse against convenience store staff were reported, 44 per cent of which were classified as hate-motivated.
Industry surveys also point out widespread racism. The reports show that amongst non-white workers, 54 per cent face racial harassment while 41 per cent of all women suffered sexism.
With women frequently positioned at the checkout, these figures carry even greater weight.
Retailers argue that the sector requires stronger protection and meaningful support, not additional regulatory pressure.
Many fear that the complexity of a generational smoking ban will create further confrontation at the till, increasing the risk of abuse and violence for frontline staff.
This Bill, as drafted, threatens to impact one of Britain's most resilient and established retail communities.
Earlier, an amendment was tabled in the House of Lords that would have replaced the Government’s proposed generational smoking ban with a one-off increase in the legal age of sale for tobacco to 21.
Moved by Lord Murray of Blidworth and supported by a cross-party group including Conservative peers, the amendment was framed as a “sensible alternative” that would provide clarity for businesses and consumers, without creating what proponents called a “two-tier society” in which younger adults are prohibited from purchasing legal products.
The House of Lords rejected the amendment, allowing the Government’s original generational smoking ban to proceed unchallenged.
The concern of convenience retailers is grounded in evidence. The illegal trade in tobacco and vapes is already at record levels. A generational ban, complex to enforce and impossible to police consistently, will not suppress demand.
Rather it will redirect it to unregulated sellers and to the black market that asks no questions and pays no tax.
The Bill also introduces new flashpoints at the shop floor level. Age-of-sale confrontations are already a source of abuse and physical assault for retail staff. A generational ban, with its inherent ambiguity around who can and cannot purchase, will make this significantly worse while providing no additional protection for those enforcing it.
Despite months of raising their concerns, letters, and requests for dialogue, retailers say that policymakers have not meaningfully engaged with them, and instead merely taken nominal meetings with Trade Bodies to discuss implementation, not the issues and flaws in the law.
Retailers are calling for urgent, direct talks with Ministers at the top levels of Government to reconsider its approach and introduce last-minute Amendments before the Bill completes Third Reading.