§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his latest assessment of the volume of cigarettes and tobacco products illegally smuggled into the country without duty being paid. [93578]
§ Dawn PrimaroloBased on work still in progress, Customs' provisional assessment is that losses through all forms of smuggling were around £1.7 billion in 1998, equivalent to approximately 10 per cent. of the cigarette market and 75 per cent. of the hand-rolling tobacco market.
The Government take the challenge posed by smuggling to our health and revenue objectives extremely seriously and our position is clear. We will not permit organised smuggling to undo a policy on tobacco duty, which successive Governments have adopted for good and urgent health reasons.