§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate the Government have made of the amount of tobacco smuggling into the United Kingdom, broken down by country, in the last year for which figures are available. [93219]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe provisional assessment of HM Customs and Excise based on their work in progress to monitor the scale of such smuggling (chiefly of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco) is that the total amount of revenue (excise duty and VAT) evaded through all forms of smuggling of tobacco products in 1998 was around £1.7 billion.
There are insufficient data on which to base a robust quantitative analysis of the amounts smuggled from individual countries.